Rinku’s fielding brilliance in yesterday’s victory over Rajasthan Royals overshadowed by injury uncertainty.
Rinku’s fielding was a massive reason for KKR’s nerve-wracking victory over the Royals yesterday. But it was clouded by an injury scare for him.
As KKR took 22 off the last over of their innings to post a total of 206 for 4, he initially scored an undefeated 19 off 6 balls. Rinku then made two crucial saves when RR needed 22 off the final six balls in the chase. He was observed limping while gripping the area close to his right groin after running to his right at deep cover and diving full length to deny Jofra Archer a boundary off the first ball of the 20th over.
“[The diving effort on 19.1] was very important because everyone in India knows that the outfield here is very fast,” Rinku told the broadcaster after the match. “So you have to react accordingly. Once the field restrictions are lifted after the powerplay, I field outside the 30-yard circle. I enjoy my fielding a lot. And to be honest, I like fielding more than batting.”
In order to have a genuine chance of qualifying for the playoffs, KKR must win every game, therefore they played excellent fielding while defending 206. Despite having stitches in the webbing of his badly bandaged right hand, Rahane rushed backward from midwicket and made a diving catch to dismiss Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the opening over of RR’s chase.
“Fielding is the factor where you can control as a unit,” he said after KKR moved to sixth place on the points table. “If you can save 10 or 12 runs in the field, that’s a bonus. That’s what we decided – let’s give our best in the field, bowlers are doing their job anyway. It is all about if you can take one or two brilliant catches, stop a couple of runs, and in the end that was the difference.”