India have a worry they could have done without. Rinku Singh has flown back to Aligarh because of what the team has described as “a private family matter”, leaving his spot for Thursday’s Super Eights meeting with Zimbabwe in Chennai very much up in the air.
The left-hander missed Tuesday evening’s nets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, where the rest of the squad prepared in humid, soupy conditions. A team spokesperson kept it brief: “Rinku needed to be with his family. We’ll take a call once he’s back in camp.” Nothing more was offered, and that in itself hints at the sensitivity of the situation.
It has been a lean World Cup for him so far – 6, 1, an unbeaten 11 and 6 in the group stage, followed by a first-ball duck in the 76-run defeat to South Africa in Ahmedabad. Even so, his late-overs hitting remains central to India’s balance, something bowling coach Paras Mhambrey noted last week: “He can win you a game in ten balls; you don’t discard that.”
Should he miss out, the management could slide Sanju Samson into the middle order or lean on an extra bowling option, though they would lose Rinku’s left-hand variety. After Zimbabwe, India finish the Super Eights against West Indies in Kolkata on 1 March. Progress to the semi-final would send them to Mumbai on 5 March – or to Colombo a day earlier if Pakistan end up as the opponents.
For now, the camp waits. “Family comes first,” as skipper Rohit Sharma put it earlier this tournament, and everyone hopes Rinku’s off-field concerns resolve quickly.
