IPL and the story of Rinku Singh.

It's Summer vacation. You have just finished your final semester exams. IPL is going to start. You're even more excited than last year because you have one year's worth of more information about the sport and the players. You have hopes that RCB will win (not everyone). Some of you hope that MI loses. Some of you hope MSD gets the team more last-over wins, while most of you hope that Virat Kohli gets more centuries. Don't correct me if I'm wrong.

This next section is going to be about the basics of IPL. So, hardcore IPL fans can skip ahead, if they want. If you didn't know that Arun Singh Dhumal is the chairman of IPL, you need to read. Not so hardcore after all, huh?

IPL stands for Indian Premier League (yeah, like nobody knows already). It is a men's Twenty-Twenty or T-20 championship held by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Ten franchise-based teams participate in the championship. The championship usually takes place annually during summer (March to May) and very less amount of international matches take place during this window, which means that the league has been in the window of the ICC future tours Programme. It is the most popular cricket league in the World. After all, it had a brand value of 11 Billion US dollars or 90,038 crores in 2022. Quite a lot of money, isn't it? IPL was founded in 2007 and the first match was played in 2008. So, if my math is right, there have been 15 seasons of the tournament, with the 2023 season ongoing right now. In 2022, Gujarat Titans won the title which makes them the current title-holders. The most successful team has been Mumbai Indians with 5 titles under their belt (biased opinion), followed by Chennai Super Kings with 4 titles. Kolkata Knight Riders have 2 titles, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Deccan Chargers (does not compete anymore), Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans have 1 title under their belt. Not to mention, Royal Challengers Bangalore does not hold any titles (Sorry RCBians but I had to include it. It's a fact and it can't be neglected). Lucknow Super Giants does not hold a title either but it's a new team so it's an exception. The official prize money for this season is yet to be announced. The teams also get a beautiful trophy upon winning which makes sense because it's a tournament, duh. I'm not going too deep about the selection process for players. There is a mega auction first, in which the teams can retain 4 of their current team players, and a normal auction later in which the teams can buy players to play for their teams. This is when the businessmen and paise-wale log (rich people) come in.

IPL Auction

(Image Source- Getty Images)

Rinku Singh

(Image Source- Getty Images)

Let's move on to the man, the myth, and the legend. Rinku Singh. For those who don't know. Rinku Singh plays for Kolkata Night Riders this season, and he has been in the limelight due to an extraordinary batting performance in Match 13 of the 2023 season. The match was between Kolkata Night Riders and Gujarat Titans. GT had scored a total of 204 runs with 4 wickets gone in 20 overs. KKR had to achieve a target of 205 runs. IPL has been blessing us with a lot of 200+ scores this year, bringing more spice to the league. All the other scores and performances aside, KKR had to chase 28 runs in 5 balls. That seems pretty difficult when you have 7 batsmen back in the pavilion. But, Rinku Singh did it. With 5 sixes in the last over, he plunged the entire team to victory at a very difficult time. A feat that has been applauded by many greats of the sport.

Rinku has been around in IPL for a long time. In 2017, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), and in 2018, he was bought with a worth of 80 crores by Kolkata Knight Riders and has stayed in KKR ever since.

Rinku was born on 12th October 1997 in a poor family. His father, Khanchandra Singh was an LPG cylinder delivery man. Rinku has been interested keenly in cricket since his childhood. His educational qualification is an 8th-standard pass. Nothing seemed to stop him. From a brick-kiln worker to an IPL sensation, he has worked hard to earn a name in the world of cricket. Rinku was born and brought up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He lived with his family in a 2-room quarter provided by the cylinder company. He went to DPS Aligarh school and he was beaten by his father for not paying enough attention to his education, in short, for playing cricket. But that did not stop him. Without his family's support, Rinku came through. He still carried on with his dream of playing cricket on a grand level and here he is.

Through all the difficulties and obstacles, Rinku rose like the sun and shed his light on all the fans out there. He has earned a name for himself and a place among the best finishes in a match. During his time in the Ranji Trophy tournament, he was the top scorer with 803 runs in 9 matches and 953 runs in 10 matches. Which means 150 runs in the tenth match. That is crazy enough for a fact.

It's very clear now that Rinku Singh has become one of the greats with this superhuman stint and we look forward to seeing more of his form in the coming matches.