Once Asked To Mop Floor, Rinku Singh Scripts Surreal Tale Of Cricketing Heroics

"'You don't have to tell anyone that you mop floors at a tuition centre. Just come in the morning, do the cleaning and leave. Nobody will know.' But I didn't like the idea," Rinku Singh had once narrated his ordeal. These were his father's words to a young Rinku before he began playing at Under-16 level for Uttar Pradesh. The family of seven, which included five sons, found father Khanchand's meagre income from delivering LPG cylinders door-to-door, insufficient for financial sustenance and most of them had to do odd jobs to make ends meet. Life, indeed was tough for Rinku and his family.

However, the perseverance kept him going and now he has become a household name after his sensational power hitting in IPL on Sunday night.

"I am not educated enough to fall back on academics. It is only cricket that could have taken me forward and it wasn't just one of the options but the only option," his jaws tightened when he spoke to KKR's official YouTube channel some time back during an interaction.

On Sunday, the stockily-built 25-year-old from Aligarh didn't just hit his UP teammate Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes to pull off an incredible IPL win but each and every ball that soared over the ropes at the Narendra Modi Stadium was a statement in itself.

In the last few years, his family has been able to bid poverty good-bye with IPL money but from now, he will enjoy IPL stardom for posterity.

Ian Bishop was on air when Rinku launched into Dayal's back of the hand slower delivery.

"Rinku Singh, Remember the Name" in Bishop's voice was something you would love to hear, on a loop.

"My father struggled a lot, I come from a farmer's family. Every ball that I hit out of the ground was dedicated to the people who sacrificed so