Rinku Singh has scored only 24 runs in five matches of the T20 World Cup 2026, striking at a sub-par 82.75.
After a heavy defeat against South Africa, the defending champions, India, are ready to bounce back, facing Zimbabwe in their second clash of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eights. But alongside bringing in the vice-captain Axar Patel to replace Washington Sundar, the side has also decided to keep the star finisher Rinku Singh out of their starting XI for the fixture.
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Zimbabwe: Tadiwanashe Marumani (WK), Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (C), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Tinotenda Maposa, Blessing Muzarabani, and Richard Ngarava.
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Earlier, the southpaw had returned back to his home for a day due to a family emergency. However, as India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had confirmed in the pre-match press conference, Rinku has again made it to Chennai before the India vs Zimbabwe match.
But despite that, the batter was not included in the hosts’ playing XI for the Super Eight fixture. Instead, wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson has replaced the 28-year-old in the line-up. Notably, the change has been made to bring in a right-hander in the Men in Blue’s southpaw-heavy batting order.
The top three batters of India have not been able to deliver what was expected from them. Moreover, coming off a scorching-hot form, the star opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan have also not worked for the hosts, majorly due to a lean patch of the former. All these factors have contributed to the change that saw Rinku Singh miss out on taking part in the IND vs ZIM match.
But the mega T20 championship has also not panned out well for the lower-middle-order batter. Coming in at eight in the 15th over, when the team was struggling at 86/6 while chasing a huge target of 188 against the Proteas, Rinku was dismissed for a two-ball duck. Earlier, he also could not anchor the innings in India’s opening game against the USA, managing just six runs off 14 balls.
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