'My life changed after those five sixes': Rinku Singh credits India selection for Asian Games to special IPL 2023 knock

Rinku Singh credited his India selection for the upcoming 2023 Asian Games to a special IPL 2023 knock for KKR.

The 2023 Asian Games will have men's cricket as an event, and the sport will be played in the T20 format. The matches will take place from September 28-October 8, and will be played at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field. The 2023 ODI World Cup will also start in India on October 5, so the BCCI will be fielding a second-string side without players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Rinku Singh was in stunning form in IPL 2023. (IPL)

The BCCI have already announced the Asian Games squad, and Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named as captain. The CSK opener has been joined by left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and RR opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Here is the full Team India squad:

Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wicket-keeper)

Standby players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan

Other than players like Gaikwad, Arshdeep, Jaiswal and Washington Sundar, the spotlight will also be on KKR star Rinku Singh, who caught everyone's attention in IPL 2023. Rinku became a household name after smacking five consecutive sixes against GT. With KKR needing 29 runs from the final over to win, Rinku clobbered five consecutive sixes to seal a thrilling win and shot to instant stardom.

Reacting to his Asian Games selection, Rinku credited that special knock as the reason behind his rise to stardom. "My life changed after those five sixes. People knew me but not that much. But after those five sixes, now a lot of people know. It feels quite good," he said.

"My family were very happy as they would say, "Play for India, we want to watch you." Everything is good and everyone danced when I got selected. It was a special innings and people began to talk about me," he further added.

The 25-year-old was the ninth highest run-scorer in IPL 2023, registering 474 runs in 14 matches for KKR with an average of 59.25. He has never appeared for India in the past and will make his debut in the Asian Games.

For the first time in the competition's history, India has named squads for both men and women. Cricket has been played at the Asian Games twice before, in 2010 and 2014. Bangladesh won the first edition and Sri Lanka are the defending champions. Afghanistan have been runners-up both times. This is the second time the Indian men's team will play in a multi-sport competition. They previously played at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, but the matches were listed as List A games.