Rinku has gained support from Ravichandran Ashwin for the T20 World Cup selection, as he has been compared to the great MS Dhoni.

Rinku Singh, who has made himself unstoppable from the final XI, let alone the squad, has been one of the most important lessons learned from India’s T20 World Cup preparations thus far. Rinku has established himself as India’s go-to finisher in T20 cricket, based on his performance in matches against Australia, South Africa, and Afghanistan over a sample size of nine innings since November 2023. Veteran Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has backed Rinku by drawing comparisons to the great MS Dhoni, despite neither head coach Rahul Dravid nor captain Rohit Sharma having disclosed any plans for the final T20 World Cup squad.

Rinku’s selection is almost a given because of a crucial factor other than just his strike rate at the end of an innings. For the Kolkata Knight Riders, the figure is still as strong as it was in the 2023 Indian Premier League. However, Rinku has demonstrated in three of those nine innings that he is also capable of teeing off at the end to finish things on a high note and stabilizing the innings when the top-order collapses early. It was evident in his 46-run innings against Australia in Raipur, his undefeated 68 in the opening Twenty20 International against South Africa, and his historic 190-run partnership with Rohit in Bengaluru during India’s 22-for-4 total against Afghanistan in the last Twenty20 International.

Referring to Rinku as a “left-handed Dhoni,” Ashwin made the comment on his YouTube channel. Ashwin believes Rinku has the same calmness as Dhoni, despite making it clear that he wasn’t drawing comparisons between the 26-year-old and the former captain of India.

He is what I would refer to as a left-handed Dhoni. He’s not quite up to par with Dhoni because of his size. However, I am referring to his ability to maintain composure. He made his way into the Indian squad by routinely scoring large amounts of runs for UP. He spent many years as a reserve for the KKR. Ashwin recalled, “People used to tell me that when he was at KKR, he collected all the balls that batters hit in throwdowns and gave them back to the bowler, even though he couldn’t bat during practice.”

Since then, he has worked extremely hard for UP, been a part of the team for a considerable amount of time, and demonstrated his availability to help the Indian team out of a difficult situation or to complete an innings. Whether the team is chasing or batting first, they remain composed. “His poise in the latter part of the inning is a plus,” he continued.

Even though Rinku aced the T20 World Cup auditions thus far, the batter must repeat his 2023 performance for KKR in the IPL 2024 to secure his spot in the ICC tournament.