Kolkata Knight Riders booked a place in the 2024 Indian Premier League final on Tuesday, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first qualifier in Ahmedabad. In a largely one-sided final, the KKR defeated Pat Cummins' men by 8 wickets, chasing down a 160-run target with 44 deliveries remaining. While KKR have had a near-perfect season in every aspect of their game, one of their underperforming stars was Rinku Singh, who had a quiet season with the bat this year.

Rinku was largely confined to short batting stints as he batted in the lower-order; unlike last year, the Knight Riders had a brilliant opening pair in Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, with Shreyas Iyer also complimenting brilliantly at the top order. This meant Rinku didn't get much time on the crease, impacting his scores this year. He has only 168 runs this year in 11 innings; this also cost him a place in the T20 World Cup squad, as Rinku was named among the reserves for the marquee tournament despite being a T20I regular throughout the past year.

Former England captain, Michael Vaughan, spoke in detail about Rinku's underperforming stint in the ongoing season, stating that the main reason behind the KKR star's low scores was the inconsistent opportunities. 

“He's had opportunities and he came quite early on some occasions, but couldn't maximise his chances,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz. 

"He's a terrific player who can strike the ball. His level is so high because we expect. In T20s, you got to take so many risks, that every now and then, you have a run of games where it doesn't quite go your way. 

“You are talking about trying to hit it out of the ground on a regular basis, and you can get caught. As long as his mindset is purely to be aggressive -- he's a better player that way -- he will be absolutely fine.”

Not a flash in the pan

Vaughan strongly believes that Rinku is not among the players who would fade away after a season or two, stressing that he is a quality batter who is going through a rough patch.

“He averages 80 for India because he gets not outs at the end, he's a quality player. He's not a flash in the pan, I don't think, we are gonna be like 'Where's Rinku Singh gone! He's disappeared. He's not the player we thought he was',” said Vaughan. 

“He just having one of those periods. The top order works, whereas in the previous year, it wasn't working and he was getting to bat earlier on regular basis, he could knock around for a while and then explode. He's had some opportunities but primarily came further down at the backend.”

Read Also: sunil gavaskar's 'fear' involving virat kohli ahead of rr vs rcb ipl 2024 eliminator: '… feel we've lost everything'