Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) batter Rinku Singh said that he had an intuition about winning the Player of the Match before his team’s contest against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday, May 2 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The southpaw, indeed, won the award after his unbeaten 23-ball knock of 42, laced with six fours and one six, after the Men in Gold and Purple won by seven wickets with five balls left.

Singh came to bat after Trent Boult got the all-important wicket of KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer, who was batting on 34. RR skipper Sanju Samson used a DRS referral to good effect and helped Boult dismiss Iyer caught behind. From there on, Singh took charge and took the attack to the opposition bowlers.

He stayed until the very end and made sure that the Knights snapped their five-match losing streak in the cash-rich T20 league. The Young Turk also talked about not losing patience and rather, waiting for the right opportunity to show his prowess with the bat.

‘Was waiting for my opportunity’

“Since morning, I had a feeling that I’d be the Player of the Match and score runs for my team. So I wrote 50 runs not out on my (left) hand,” Singh was quoted as saying during an interview with Nitish Rana after the game.

“I was waiting for my opportunity for a long time. I’ve been with KKR for the last five years, but due to lack of chances, I couldn’t contribute much. But instead of giving up, I kept working hard. I only had the thought that I’ll try my best to help my team win if I get a chance to perform,” he added.

Rana also lent him the needed support by scoring an unbeaten 37-ball 48 with three fours and one six. After Rinku came to bat, Rana took the backseat and allowed his partner to do most of the scoring. Following the comprehensive win, the Knights moved to seventh in the points table.