Rinku Singh's new trigger movement has him unbeaten for four straight innings
Rinku Singh has been unbeaten in his last four innings, and his coach is happy to tell anyone who asks what is behind the change.
After scores of 4, 1 and 6 in three of his first five innings of IPL 2026, the KKR finisher has put together a stretch that reads 53 not out against Rajasthan Royals, 83 not out off 51 against Lucknow Super Giants on 26 April, 22 not out against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and 49 not out off 29 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Raipur on Wednesday. That is 207 runs without losing his wicket, at a strike rate over 170. The 83 not out against LSG is now his highest T20 score, helped by four sixes in a row off Digvesh Rathi in the final over.
A walk across the crease
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo before the RCB game, KKR head coach Abhishek Nayar pointed at one specific tweak. "If you would have noticed, his initial movement changed; he's now walking across compared to before," Nayar said. "So we kind of figured that out, maybe that can help him, and he's never done that, so we added that to his batting."
The walk-across trigger is a small adjustment by Rinku's standards, who had built his name as a still-stance finisher who took on bowlers from a planted base. Walking across the crease keeps his head moving towards the ball and opens up the leg side earlier in the shot, which fits the late-overs role KKR keep handing him. Nayar said the support staff also leaned heavily on centre-wicket practice through the slump, less for technique and more to bring the confidence back.
The form is back, the position is not
The trouble for KKR is that Rinku has rediscovered himself in a season that is running out of runway. The Raipur loss left them on nine points with three games to go, and they will likely need to win all three at Eden Gardens with a healthy net run rate swing to push into the top four. KKR managed 192 for 4 against RCB on Wednesday with Angkrish Raghuvanshi's 71 doing the bulk of the work, but Virat Kohli's unbeaten 105 closed the chase out with five balls to spare.
Rinku himself still gets plenty out of the run. The trigger change has held up across four different bowling attacks and at four different venues, including the final-over chase situations that built his name in the first place. If KKR's playoff door closes this week, he at least walks into the rest of the year, and the India white-ball conversation, with a fix that worked.
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