"Expecting Him To Be Another Yuvraj Singh...": Sunil Gavaskar On 'High Expectations' For India Star

The Indian cricket team is going through various permutations and combinations. After the ODI Cricket World Cup, where the Indian cricket team finished runners-up, the focus now is on the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup. If the T20I side that has been selected for the South Africa Tour is anything to go by, then the BCCI selectors are not averse to giving the young guns a go-ahead of the shortest format marquee event. The likes of Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad will be closely watched in the next six months. India have five T20Is and the IPL to decide their final combination for the T20 World Cup.

Rinku Singh is a crucial cog in the Indian cricket team's T20 scheme of things. Former Indian cricket team captain Sunil Gavaskar had some interesting things to say on Rinku Singh.

"Talent - it's not given to everybody. You can love the game. You can play all day, but sometimes you know you might not quite have the talent, but he has the belief that he could do it, and that's what he's done over the last 2-3 years. Again here in the IPL, he was in and out of a lot of teams when he finally got the opportunity and the way he grabbed it (was amazing)," Sunil Gavaskar was quoted as saying to Star Sports by India Today.

"And now he's part of an India team. And now there's so much, so many high expectations of them. They are now expecting him to be another Yuvraj Singh. Rinku Singh - Yuvraj Singh. So if you can do even a fraction of what Yuvraj did for Indian cricket, then he will have done wonderfully well," Gavaskar said.

Giving his assessment about the South African wickets after India's first practice session, Rinku, who played a vital role in India clinching the five-match T20I series series against Australia recently said, "When I battered here today, there was extra bounce here compared to Indian wickets.

"The pace is a bit more, so will practice against pace bowling." India will play the first of their three T20Is against the Proteas here on Sunday and Rinku is expected to bat at the crucial No. 5 or No. 6 position.

He said that head coach Rahul Dravid had also asked him to just play his natural game and bat at No.5 or No.6.

"The first practice session, I enjoyed it a lot because of the fine weather. Getting the opportunity to work with Rahul Dravid sir, so that was a good feeling. He told me to continue playing the way I do and continue believing in myself," Rinku told BCCI.tv.

"(He told me) to keep playing at No. 5 or 6. It is tough to play in that position, but keep pushing yourself and believe in yourself."

The hard-hitter from Uttar Pradesh added that batting in the two crucial positions since 2013 had given him the confidence to play a similar role for India.

"I have been playing for UP since 2013 at No. 5 or 6. So, I have got used to that position. I keep backing myself to play in that position because it is very tough to play in that position if 4-5 wickets are down," Rinku said.