Ever since Rinku Singh made his first-class debut a decade ago, the chatter going around in the cricketing circles was about his traits against spin. He was known to pick the length quickly while facing the tweakers. Just a few glimpses of his batting in domestic cricket also were enough to confirm that it was more or less true. However, any athlete has to keep evolving in order to succeed at the highest level. And therein lies the narrative surrounding Rinku and spin bowling.
Just zoom in on his stats over the last three IPL seasons, and it is a bit perplexing to observe that Rinku has indeed struggled against spin, especially with regard to upping the ante. His strike rate in 2023 – The same year where he hogged the limelight – was a modest 112.1 and he scored 148 runs versus spin. He was also dismissed four times by spin during that season.
In the 2024 IPL, it improved marginally to 115.2. This year, although Rinku’s strike rate while facing spin stood at 130.4, he was dismissed five times. If you take a minimum of five innings as a qualification mark, even then that strike-rate of just over 130 was nowhere in the top 15 best strike-rates versus spin in the just concluded season.
Just delve deeper and you will notice that over the last two IPL seasons, he has lost his wicket to the left-arm spin variety on four occasions and his strike-rate is a tad over 100. For a left-hand batter to not ace the left-arm spin variety in the shortest format is a bit hard to fathom. One of the reasons could be that Rinku’s forward press isn’t allowing him to use the depth of the crease. Whatever the logic behind some of his struggles, the Indian selectors might just be considering his problems versus spin while picking the squad for the Asia Cup.
Despite all those drawbacks, Rinku has an enviable strike-rate of over 160 while playing for his country in the shortest format. It is also a fact that even during the 2025 IPL, he did showcase his ability to land meaty blows during the last few overs of an innings. Who can forget his 19 off just 6 deliveries in the RR-KKR game or his 38 off 15 in the LSG-KKR encounter? The second effort, however, came in a losing cause and there were question marks over Rinku’s batting position for that match.
All this indicates that Rinku has a spin problem, especially when it comes to playing the big shots. But he is just 27 years old, so there is enough time to upgrade his game. The bigger question is whether the selectors will take the risk with Rinku for the Asia Cup? The answer could be ‘Yes’. And their reasoning might be based on his excellent T20I numbers.
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