Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The victorious Indian team members are returning home after winning the 2026 T20 World Cup title. India defeated New Zealand by 96 runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.Rinku Singh, a member of the title-winning Indian side, arrived at the airport with his fiancée Priya Saroj. Upon arrival, he walked ahead to greet and hug his friends who had gathered outside the airport to welcome him, momentarily leaving Priya behind.
Seeing Rinku walk ahead, Priya jokingly said, “mujhe bhool gye kya?”. Rinku laughed, walked back, put his hands around Priya’s shoulders, and then went on to meet his friends.Rinku got engaged to politician Priya Saroj on June 8.The cricketer also penned an emotional tribute to his late father, Khanchand Singh, who passed away on February 27 in Greater Noida after a prolonged illness.Rinku attended his father’s funeral after India’s T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s match against Zimbabwe before rejoining the squad in Kolkata for the crucial must-win Super 8s clash against the West Indies.In a heartfelt post after India’s T20 World Cup 2026 triumph, Rinku said that even a single day without speaking to his father felt incomplete and that he struggles to imagine life ahead without him.“I have never spent so many days without talking to you. I don’t know how life will move forward without you… But I know I will need you at every step,” he wrote in a post on Instagram. “You always taught me that duty comes first, so on the field I was only trying to fulfil your dream. Now that your dream has been fulfilled… I just wish you were here with me. I will feel your absence in every small and big moment of happiness. I will miss you a lot, Papa,”Meanwhile, Rinku played just five matches for India in the T20 World Cup, where he struggled for runs and managed only 24 in total, including a duck against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium during the Super 8s stage.After the loss against the Proteas, Rinku was dropped from the team and Sanju Samson replaced him in the playing XI. The move proved beneficial as Samson delivered back-to-back match-winning knocks in the Super 8s, the semi-final, and the final.
