'Lucky to spend time with him' - Brendon McCullum lavishes praise on Kolkata batter

The 47th match of the Indian T20 league 2022 saw Kolkata beat Rajasthan by seven wickets. This victory comes as a huge sigh of relief for the Shreyas Iyer-led side. Before beating the Sanju Samson-led side, they had lost five consecutive games, and were struggling. This victory has enabled them to remain in the race for the playoffs.

However, it was Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh who saw their side through. The 24-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he ended up scoring an unbeaten 42 from just 23 balls. While his knock came at a strike rate of 182.61, it included six fours and a six. Thus, this enabled him to win the player of the match award as well.

Kolkata's coach Brendon McCullum had heaps of praises for Singh. While mentioning the fact that he has been a part of the Kolkata-based franchise for the last five years, the Kiwi legend stated that he was lucky enough to spend time with him. McCullum also spoke about how Rana gave Singh a lot of confidence.

"Rinku Singh has been in the franchise for a long period of time. Lucky enough to spend some time with him. He needed to make a statement and he made it in the first game itself. Rana was out in the middle and that gave him (Rinku) a lot of confidence in his company," said Brendon McCullum after the completion of the match.

In the meanwhile, he drew light on Kolkata's victory. McCullum spoke about how they finally managed to break their losing streak. Further on, appreciated the match-winning partnership of Rana and Singh. Thus, McCullum was pleased with his team.

"Really pleased obviously (with the win). (Losing) Five games on the bounce, it's not easy. I need to compliment all the guys for the way they played tonight. The guys have stuck together and been realistic. Tonight was a fantastic performance, from two guys who are very good friends (Rana and Rinku). Selection role is really important for me," he added.