Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan has backed young batter Rinku Singh to shine in the Proteas conditions as India will face South Africa in the three-match T20I series starting December 10. The Men in Blue are riding high on confidence after a 4-1 series triumph over Australia where Rinku played a key role in the team’s success. The flamboyant batter has been in tremendous form and flourished as a finisher since making his India debut. His ability to hold his nerves in crunch situations made him stand apart in the T20I series against Australia.
Pathan heaped praise on Rinku and said he is ready to succeed in the tough Proteas conditions.
“I think he will enjoy the bounce and pace of the ball because he is the kind of cricketer who likes to face fast bowling. I really think he is a guy who is ready. Especially being a left-hander and especially being a free-flowing player will help,” Pathan told Star Sports.
The former all-rounder pointed out Rinku’s grind and hard work in domestic cricket before getting the national team call-up.
“He is extremely impressive. When a guy has done the hard yards in domestic cricket and waited for his chance to come good in the IPL, that means he has got a lot of experience. He knows how to take those chances, that will come his way, with both hands,” he added.
Rinku has played 55 List A matches in which he scored 1844 runs at a sublime average of 49.83. While in 42 First Class matches he hit 3007 runs at an average of 57.82.
“We are seeing him getting results lately, he is playing for the Indian team and finished a very good game for the Indian team recently, and his name has been doing the rounds for the last little while, but don’t forget that he has been playing first-class cricket and List A cricket for many years,” he added.
The southpaw grabbed the limelight in the last season of IPL where he scored 474 runs at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52 in 14 innings. He took the cricketing world by storm with five sixes in consecutive balls in the final over of an IPL match to help his team emerge victorious.
“He has put in a lot of effort. It wasn’t that he got his place in the IPL as soon as he came in. He used to play just as a fielder and then the team liked him. They backed him and now they are getting the results,” Pathan added.
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