Former India batting coach Vikram Rathour feels Rinku Singh has good enough technique to play Test cricket for India as well. Rinku has so far played two ODIs and 20 T20Is for India and has majorly played the role of a finisher. He recently featured in the T20I series against Zimbabwe and was also amongst the reserves in the T20 World Cup which India won in the West Indies last month.
Rinku is one of the regular members of the T20I team thanks to his strike-rate of 176.27 and average of 83.2 in 15 innings scoring 416 runs. Rathour whose last assignment as India's batting coach was the T20 World Cup feels the southpaw is technically sound to play red-ball cricket and also pointed out that he averages in 50s at the first-class level.
Notably, Rinku Singh has played 47 matches in first-class cricket so far amassing 3173 runs at an average of 54.7 with seven centuries and 20 fifties to his name. "When I see him bat in nets, I can't find any technical reasons why Rinku cannot be a successful Test batter. I understand he has made his name as a terrific finisher in T20 cricket but if you look at his first-class record, he is averaging in high 50s.
"He is also blessed with a very calm temperament. So all these factors indicate that if given an opportunity, he can develop into a Test cricketer," Vikram Rathour said while speaking to PTI. The former India batting coach also picked India's two young players - Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal - to be the next lot of all-format players for India. He also felt that the duo will be the backbone of the Indian batting line-up in the next decade or so.
"There are many exciting players coming through but these two [Gill and Jaiswal] are equipped to play all three formats for a long time. They are going to be the backbone of Indian batting in years to come," Rathour added.
