• Home
  • Who Said What
  • Nayar Saw Potential In Rinku Karthik On Kkrs Support In Indian Mavericks Rise

'Nayar Saw Potential In Rinku' - Karthik On KKR's Support In Indian Maverick's Rise 

image-lpcanegdRinku slammed a quick-fire 22 against Australia [AP Photo]

Dinesh Karthik shed light on Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) role and immense support behind the inspirational journey and rise of young Rinku Singh in becoming a match-winning death-overs aggressor in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and now T20Is for India. 

As Rinku smashed a winning six against Australian seamer Sean Abbott in the opening game of the five-match T20I series in Visakhapatnam on Thursday (November 23), Karthik came around an image that had the player hugging KKR's assistant coach and former Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar.

Karthik then highlighted the great role played by Nayar in Rinku's ascent to becoming an IPL and T20I player from the small town of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh in what is one of the most heartening tales of Indian cricket. 

The experienced wicketkeeper-batter and former KKR skipper also revealed how much Nayar and franchise CEO Venky Mysore supported the 26-year-old when he was dealing with a career-threatening ACL injury.

Karthik Highlights KKR's Support In Rinku's Tale 

Apart from financial support in rehabilitation, KKR made sure Rinku recovered mentally from the trauma of the ACL injury and supported him by keeping him close to the set-up while eventually working hard and improving his powerhitting game under the watchful eyes of Nayar. 

"It was a partnership that started in 2018 during my time in KKR. Nayar always saw the potential in Rinku, he kept telling me, it was only a matter of time before he did something really special," Karthik tweeted. 

"Coming from a small town in Aligarh, all he needed was to think big, and I think that shift in mindset was what Nayar worked with Rinku majorly about apart from fine-tuning his death-hitting skills."


"Even during the time he had an ACL injury, nayar convinced @VenkyMysore sir who gracefully accepted Rinku to be part of the team and made him travel and stay with KKR."

"He stayed in Nayar's house post IPL for many months for Rehab and started working on his batting and had a stellar domestic season and then eventually did what Nayar and KKR always thought he could do, a MATCH WINNING FINISHER," he added.