Rinku Singh Is Left-handed MS Dhoni - Ravichandran Ashwin Heaps Praise On Young Batsman

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has heaped praise on Rinku Singh and has hailed him as a ‘left-handed Dhoni’. The highly-rated batsman has further enhanced his reputation by doing well in the recently concluded three-match T20I series against South Africa.

Rinku Singh has not looked back since making his debut for Team India last year. After remaining unbeaten on 16 and 9 in the first two games, he scored a whirlwind fifty in the third game against Afghanistan. India were reeling at 22 for 4 when the Uttar Pradesh star joined captain Rohit Sharma in the middle.

The youngster showed remarkable maturity and composure to build the innings before going all out in the death overs. He smashed an unbeaten 69 runs off just 39 balls with the help of 2 fours and 6 sixes. At one stage, he was batting on 44 runs off 34 balls before shifting gears and collecting as many as 25 runs in just 5 balls. The 26-year-old finished the innings by hitting three sixes in a row. He and Rohit shared an unbeaten 190-run stand.

Ravichandran Ashwin heaps praise on Rinku Singh:

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin lavished praise on Rinku Singh. The Tamil Nadu ace stated that while there is no comparison between the youngster and the legendary MS Dhoni, the left-hander has already made a big mark with his calm and collected attitude.

“He is somebody I’d call a left-handed Dhoni. I can’t compare him to Dhoni just yet because Dhoni is too big. But, I am talking about the composure that he brings. He has been consistently scoring buckets of runs for UP and broke his way into the Indian team,” said Ashwin.

“He was on the KKR bench for many years. People used to tell me that, when he was at KKR, even though he couldn’t get the chance to bat at practice, he collected all the balls that batters hit in throwdowns and gave them back to the bowler.

“Since then, he has been with the franchise for so long, put in the hard work for UP and showed that he’s always available to get to the Indian team out of a tricky situation or finish an innings. The composure doesn’t change whether the team is batting first or chasing. His composure towards the back end of the innings is a bonus,” added Ashwin.

Rinku Singh has made a stunning start to his career in T20Is. In 15 games so far, he has scored 356 runs with the help of 2 half-centuries. He has an average of 89 and a strike-rate of 176 in the shortest format of the game. The Kolkata Knight Riders star is looking destined to be a part of India’s squad for this year’s T20 World Cup.