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Former Indian batter and commentator Aakash Chopra has heaped praise on the Indian middle-order batter Rinku Singh, who played an impressive cameo of 44* runs in 20 balls with four fours and three sixes in the first T20I against New Zealand, in Nagpur.
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Speaking exclusively to ESPN Cricinfo, Chopra asserted that the Indian team management shouldn’t consider Rinku as a finisher only, adding that he is someone who can read the situation very well and adapt accordingly to the game's situation.
"If you are going to play with the eight batters, you need somebody who can actually bat at eight. Then Rinku has to walk into the team. But my humble request is, just don't label him as a finisher only,” Aakash Chopra told ESPN Cricinfo.
"He has scored three T20I fifties and all those innings came when he actually, I think, walked in during the powerplay overs itself. So he's someone who's a grafter. He's someone who reads the situation very well. He actually adapts and then he fires," he added.
"He's not a Pollard or a Russell or a Hardik Pandya or even a Shivam Dube, who will smash sixes for fun. He's not someone who muscles the ball. He's someone who actually plays the field quite nicely,” he stated.
Speaking after the first T20I against the Black Caps, Rinku stated that he has been in and out of the T20I team, admitting that he wants to stay until the end and put up a big total on the board. While India posted 238/7 in 20 overs, the visitors could score only 190/7, losing the game by 48 runs.
"There was pressure on me as I was in and out of the team. The plan was to take singles, doubles and in between hit the boundary. Also to stay till the end and finish it off. That's what I did. This series is very crucial, we want to win it. We want to take this confidence and momentum forward into the World Cup and win it," he concluded.
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