Little Master Sunil Gavaskar lauded youngster Rinku Singh ahead of the start of India’s all-format tour of South Africa. Gavaskar feels Rinku has grabbed the opportunities that came his way in the Indian Premier League (IPL), playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and the 26-year-old has done reasonably well in the limited chances given in T20Is. Ahead of Suryakumar Yadav-led India’s three T20Is versus South Africa, in the African nation, Gavaskar stated that Rinku is being looked up on as the next ‘Yuvraj Singh’ and expectations are sky high from the left-hander. 

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Gavaskar hailed Rinku’s self-belief while talking on Star Sports and said, “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).”

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In addition, Gavaskar stated that Indian fans are already comparing Rinku’s ability with Yuvraj, who is one of the legendary Indian cricketers in white-ball formats. The former Indian opener believes that if Rinku can do even a ‘fraction of what Yuvraj did’, he will have done wonderfully well. 

He added, “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.”

Rinku-starrer India locked horns with South Africa in the three-match T20I series opener on Sunday (Dec 10) in Durban. The game was washed out without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain. 

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