MS Dhoni is arguably the best finisher India has ever produced. The man finished so many matches during his illustrious career but ever since, he has hung up his boots from international cricket, team India is yet to find his successor on a permanent basis despite trying so many players. But over the last few months, one player who has emerged to fulfil the role as consistently as Dhoni is Rinku Singh. Even the India head coach Rahul Dravid reserved massive praise for the 26-year-old in the pre-match press conference ahead of the first T20I of the three-match series against Afghanistan.
Dravid, in a way, confirmed Rinku's position in all the three matches of the upcoming series expecting him to develop his skills as a finisher ever further. "He has been performing well in the role of a finisher. This series (against Afghanistan) is another opportunity for him to develop himself as a cricketer further," he said. The left-handed batter hogged the limelight in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year ever since he smashed 30 runs in the last over against Gujarat Titans to win an improbable match for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Since then, he got his India cap as well and has so far batted in 8 innings (12 T20Is) scoring 262 runs at an impeccable strike-rate of 180.7 with a half-century to his name. Rahul Dravid highlighted the importance for Rinku to conistently do well to remain in the selectors' fray. "Whatever opportunity he gets here or in the IPL, it will be good for his development. Whenever a player does well, he always remains in the thoughts of the selector," Dravid added.
The India head coach is also happy with a pool of left-handers in the team at the moment after long being a one-dimensional line-up. The emergence of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma alongside Rinku Singh has given the management a lot of options to consider. "Players like Rinku, Jaiswal and Tilak have come in as well, which adds a nice string to the bow. But in the end, we make selection on the basis of performance, not just on the left-hand or right-hand batsman. We still have left-handers in the line-up. But it is not only about left-handers but it is their ability to play through a period and to be able to tackle different kinds of spin that there is," Rahul Dravid added.
