India’s middle-order batter Rinku Singh has left the team camp during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 because of a family emergency. The left-hander, who has featured in all five matches so far, flew back home from Chennai.
According to PTI, Rinku was not present at India’s training session at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday, February 24.
“Rinku Singh has flown back home from Chennai due to a family emergency. He did not join India’s practice session at the Chepauk,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI.
As per PTI sources, “Rinku’s father Khanchand Singh is reportedly admitted to a hospital in Greater Noida in serious condition, and hence the player had to rush back.”
Rinku Singh Returns Home — Doubt Over Availability for Zimbabwe Clash
Rinku’s sudden departure has created uncertainty about whether he will be available for India’s crucial Super 8 match against the Zimbabwe national cricket team on Thursday in Chennai.
India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, is in a must-win situation. If the West Indies cricket team beat South Africa national cricket team and India loses to Zimbabwe at Chepauk, India’s title defence will come to an end.
Rinku’s T20 World Cup 2026 So Far
Rinku made his T20 World Cup debut on February 7 in Mumbai against the United States of America, where he scored 6 runs from 14 balls. In the next Group A match against Namibia at Arun Jaitley Stadium on February 12, he managed just 1 run from six balls.
He remained unbeaten on 11 off 4 balls against Pakistan in Colombo and scored 6 off 3 against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad on February 18.
In India’s first Super 8 match against South Africa at Narendra Modi Stadium on February 22, Rinku came in at No. 8 during a chase of 188 but was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Keshav Maharaj.
With an important match coming up, all eyes will now be on whether Rinku can rejoin the squad in time.
Suryakumar Yadav backs his team despite defeat against SA
Speaking after the match, India captain Suryakumar Yadav backed the Indian cricket team and promised to make a good comeback in their next match.
“Hopefully bat well, bowl well and field well,” he said while talking about the plans for the next game. “That’s it. We’ll try and keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket which we want to play and nothing changes. I think we’ll come back strong,” Suryakumar added.
Surya gave a clear and honest take on where things went wrong in the game against South Africa.
“My thing is sometimes you’ve got to think, if you’re chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the powerplay, but you might lose the game in the powerplay. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay, and then we couldn’t build the small partnerships we wanted while chasing 180-185, but that’s part of the game,” he said.
Suryakumar felt his team stayed in the contest for most of the game but admitted they could have done better with the bat.
“I feel we were always in the game when we started. I think we bowled really well in the beginning, 21 for 3, and the way they batted after that from overs 7 to 15, I think they batted really well. Then we came back again later on. Overall, we bowled really well, but we could have batted a little better,” Suryakumar added.
