Rinku Singh produced a remarkable all-round display for Kolkata Knight Riders in their dramatic Super Over victory against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday, but beyond the cricketing brilliance, the night carried
deep personal significance.
His fiancée Priya Saroj revealed the emotional weight behind the performance, saying, “Hum bohot khush hain. Aaj unhone (Rinku) khela hi father-in-law k liye, aaj unko hum bohot miss kar rahe hain, aur yeh unke liye hi hai, (We are very happy. Today he (Rinku) played for my father-in-law; we are missing him a lot today, and this is all for him),”.
What it’s all about 🤌💜 pic.twitter.com/t4l5Rb3zMj
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 26, 2026
Father’s Passing Deeply Affected Rinku
Rinku’s father, Khanchand Singh, passed away earlier this year after battling stage-four liver cancer. The loss had forced Rinku to briefly step away from cricket during the T20 World Cup to attend the last rites in Aligarh, and the memory clearly continues to inspire him. On the field, his impact was decisive. Walking in with KKR reeling at 93/7, Rinku anchored the innings with a stunning unbeaten 83 off 51 balls, including a breathtaking assault in the final over where he smashed four consecutive sixes to propel his side to 155/7.
After the match, Rinku’s family also spoke to Narine as their video call went viral on social media.
Very good bowling, Sunil bhaiya 😁👌 pic.twitter.com/sRHaqp6VTZ
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 27, 2026
Reflecting on his approach, Rinku said, “When I went into bat, four wickets had fallen, so I kept thinking about how I could go about, and I had to take the game till the end. Since we had lost four wickets, it was about keeping the scoreboard moving and putting the loose balls away,” Rinku Singh said after the match.
Teammate Vaibhav Arora underlined the significance of the innings, stating at the post-match press conference: “We’ve won the game because of that knock. If it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t have got to a total of 155, and that was a decent score on this pitch. He smashed four sixes in the last over, and those proved to be the difference in helping us win the match in the end.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
