Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Rinku Singh, who has emerged as a star with his strong power-hitting abilities in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the team, spoke about his cricketing career while assisting in preparing traditional Kolkata-style biryani in an episode of Knight Bite.
As he helped prepare the fragrant Kolkata biryani, complete with its signature potato - an absolute must-have ingredient, in the opinion of host and chef Kunal Kapur - Rinku thought back to his early cricket days.
"I was learning in Modern School, and there was an inter-school competition. Some persons observed my game and encouraged me to play because they noticed how good I was handling the tennis ball," Singh reminisced about his very first cricket match.
The left-handed gem unveiled his remarkable beginning in cricket. "When I went for batting and the match got over, I had scored 54 runs in 32 balls. That's where my cricket journey started."
Talking about his first international match for India, Rinku confessed to getting nervous: "When you're playing for India, and you get to achieve what you played cricket to get, you do feel a bit nervous. In my first match, I did not get to bat, only fielding, and also it was raining, so I was a bit nervous. But after a little while, everything normalized."
Perhaps one of the most emotional moments was when Rinku mentioned his tattoo with the words "God's Plan, Beautifully Done" and then the time "2:20" - the very moment that changed his life for good. "When KKR acquired me in 2018 for Rs 80 lakh, I did not realize what a lot it was because, till then, we never had much. Our life became absolutely different. We could facilitate my siblings' marriage and also got a house of our own on that money," the sentimental batter said.
"That's why I got this tattoo with the family written here. It was just 2:21 or 2:20 when I got selected, and everything changed thereafter," he continued, pointing at the tattoo representing his special relationship with the Kolkata franchise.
While the mouth-watering biryani simmered further with its perfuming spices, Rinku played a popular game where he identified renowned Bengali sweets accurately, such as rasgulla, jalebi, and gulab jamun, revealing his familiarity with Kolkata culture.
He was joined subsequently by teammates Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Moeen Ali, who were amazed by his culinary expertise as the trio enjoyed the meal together.
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