Kolkata : Indian Batter Rinku Singh has returned home owing to family emergency, as a result, is doubtful for Super 8 ICC T20 WC 2026 clash against Zimbabwe on February 26 at Chennai.
He was also absent from Indian practice session at Chepauk on Tuesday (24th February) evening.
Rinku’s father, Khanchand Singh, has been undergoing cancer treatment for over a year. His condition deteriorated in recent days, and he is now suffering from stage-4 liver cancer and remains on ventilator support in a hospital in Greater Noida.
Rinku had reached Chennai with the squad on February 23 but left early the next morning after receiving the update about his father’s condition. However, there has been no official statement from the India national cricket team.
If Rinku is unavailable, Sanju Samson is likely to replace him in the team for Zimbabwe clash, he was also seen practicing hard in nets and impressed everyone with clean hitting abilities. Samson featured in only 1 match in the T20 WC 2026 against Namibia in absence of Abhishek Sharma, scoring 22(8) , including 3 sixes and 1 boundary.
Rinku has had a lean tournament so far. After scores of 6, 1, 11* and 6* in the group-stage matches, he made a duck in India’s 76-run defeat against South Africa in Ahmedabad.
With no clarity on when Rinku will return, the team management could be forced to explore other options. Axar Patel remains a direct replacement, while Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav are also in the mix depending on the batting combination the think-tank wants for the Zimbabwe clash.
