Before the 2025 Asia Cup, Rinku Singh was asked what he wanted from the tournament. His answer was simple: “to hit the winning runs.” In the final against Pakistan, he delivered exactly that—though it also stood out that it was the only delivery he faced throughout the competition.
Within India’s balanced batting group, Rinku fits neatly into a role where a batter can enter late and make those appearances count against spinners. Since January 2024, he has managed to face 10 deliveries or more in just 10 of his 25 T20I innings. In this India setup, the task is clear: finish the innings.
However, Kolkata Knight Riders require more from him than short, high-impact cameos. Rinku is currently the only India T20I batter in the KKR squad, and it would be natural to expect him to contribute across more phases of the innings, not just at the end.
KKR did give him a stretch to do that during this season. In his opening four matches, he batted at number five, arriving with the team at 79 for 3, 105 for 3, 74 for 3 and 145 for 3. Yet in Chennai, he was squeezed by Akeal Hosein and Noor Ahmed, with his scoring largely limited to singles and dots. Against Lucknow Super Giants, he struggled to find boundaries against Mohammed Shami and Avesh Khan. Versus Mumbai Indians, his unbeaten 33 included only four fours and arrived at a strike rate of 157.14, in a night where the scoreboard read 220 and 224.
The reason Rinku has not consistently looked like his more intimidating self in the middle overs is heavily tied to match-ups and when he is sent in. Since IPL 2023, his strike rate against pace has been 167, along with a boundary rate close to 70%. Against spin, though, his strike rate falls to 122. In the same period, when he comes in during the last five overs, his strike rate rises to 226. When he gets out to bat in the earlier half of the innings, it dips to 135, and if he plays his knocks between overs 11 and 15, it edges up only slightly to 139.
This term, his first four appearances came from varying entry points between overs six and 15. With more frequent exposure to spin, he has not been able to sway games in the way someone with his experience would be expected to at this point in his career. As a result, across IPL 2024, IPL 2025 and IPL 2026 so far, he has scored fewer runs than the 474 he amassed during his breakout IPL 2023. Since IPL 2024, he has also produced only five scores above 30 and has not recorded a single fifty.
That is where the gap between expectation and output is beginning to widen. In KKR’s most recent match against Gujarat Titans (GT), Anukul Roy and Rovman Powell were promoted ahead of Rinku, giving him an entry point closer to his preferred batting window late in the innings. Rinku came in after 14.5 overs and then fell after a two-ball stay to Kagiso Rabada, but the larger message was that KKR are, at least for now, treating him primarily as a late-overs batter.
For a player at this stage—having already spent more than seven IPL seasons—KKR will expect much more than that. Rinku is a regular for India, a winner of the T20 World Cup, and the vice-captain of this KKR group. He cannot rely on producing impact only when match-ups and entry points fall perfectly into place. He needs to be effective, even if not always dominant, regardless of who he is facing.
To get there, Rinku does not need to discard what has made him dangerous, but he must broaden it. A clear next step is improving against spin—not merely to survive, but to score. Another is developing the ability to construct an innings on his own terms. In Sunday’s afternoon contest against Rajasthan Royals, he gets a chance to apply that immediately. Against Ravi Bishnoi, the numbers offer a tempting duel: 29 runs from 17 balls, along with two dismissals. Against Ravindra Jadeja as well, Rinku’s record looks encouraging—five sixes in 34 balls for 51 runs, with only one dismissal.
Even with all the on-field considerations, there is also a personal reality that cannot be ignored. Rinku lost his father two months ago, and the weight of grief can easily influence a player’s performance. Even if he turns his season around from Sunday onward, it may be too late to make a meaningful dent in KKR’s slim qualification prospects. Still, there is a brighter angle: the performances in the run-up will help KKR gain clearer direction for 2027 and beyond.
