Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has confirmed that Rinku Singh is fit to play in the fourth T20I of the England tour of India 2025.
The batter was part of the first match in Kolkata but was ruled out of the next two games after picking up the injury before the second.
According to the sources, Rinku batted extensively in the nets on the eve of the match, trying laps and sweeps against spinners, looking comfortable against pacers, and participated in throwdown drills from specialist Raghavendra and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar.
“Rinku is fit. He played the first game, hurt himself and missed the next two. But I would imagine Rinku comes back in as soon as he’s a proper fit. He batted the other night and I think he’ll be ready to go tomorrow,” said Doeschate in the press match conference.
The upcoming T20Is could bring much-needed game time for Rinku who after a quick start to his international career, did not have opportunities to do anything of note in the last few months.
If Rinku comes back, he’ll likely to take over wicketkeeping duties from Jurel who had a poor run in the second and third T20Is.
“You could argue that we don’t want Dhruv Jurel batting at number 8. But I also think if you look at the blueprint of any of Gambhir’s teams that he has coached since he’s been coaching T20 cricket, it is a big part of how he likes to set up,” ten Doeschate said.
“Particularly the other night, like I said, with Dhruv coming in at 8, I don’t think we got to see the best of him.”
“But we do believe that it’s a big part of strategy in these games. Again, going back to my point, we want to give guys a long enough opportunity to show how good they are because we believe in the medium to long term, guys will show how good they are.”
India currently leads the series 2-1 and will play their next T20I match on January 31 at Maharshtra Cricket Associaton Stadium.
