IPL 2026: Shane Watson hails Rinku Singh’s return to form as ‘brilliant to watch’

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) assistant coach Shane Watson believes that vice-captain Rinku Singh’s return to form has come as a major boost for the team, with the middle-order batter delivering a match-winning 83 off 53 balls in the previous game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to guide his side to victory.

Watson calls Rinku’s knock ‘brilliant to watch’

Watson praised Rinku’s innings, calling it ‘brilliant to watch,’ while underlining the importance of building support around him in the batting unit ahead of their clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

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“We’ve played nicely in the last couple of games. Our bowling has been very good in the last couple of games. Our batting, there’s been some very good things. Rinku Singh’s coming to form has been brilliant to watch. We just need a couple of other guys to put their hands up today,” Watson told broadcasters ahead of the match against SRH.

The former Australia all-rounder also sounded optimistic about the playing conditions, hinting at a batting-friendly surface.

Watson confident about batting-friendly pitch

“Looks like a really nice pitch. Always a great place to bat here. Definitely have to turn it on today. Everyone’s here to get the best out of themselves and continue to learn from every situation. That, for me, has been the beauty of being here with KKR. Everyone has continued to look at different areas to get better. For me, it’s no surprise we’ve been able to string some good performances together. Long may that continue,” he concluded.

SRH win toss, KKR make two changes

Speaking of the match, SRH have won the toss and opted to bat first. KKR have made two changes to their team with Finn Allen and Manish Pandey coming in place of Tim Seifert and Ramandeep Singh.

Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga

(With IANS Inputs)