Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has urged Rinku Singh to grab his opportunities with both hands in IPL 2026. Pathan noted that Singh batted at his best in IPL 2023 but he hasn’t been able to deliver for KKR in the last two seasons.

The left-hander scored 474 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2023 but he has managed only 374 runs in the last 22 innings of the previous two seasons.

Meanwhile, the southpaw could not deliver the goods in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, scoring only 24 runs in five innings for India.

Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “Then there is Rinku Singh. We will have to see how much opportunity he gets to play. His 2023 season was outstanding. He scored 400-450 runs with a strike rate of 150. But after that, his performance dipped, and many times he didn’t get enough opportunities. He will have to maintain his standard and maximize the opportunities he gets. Even in the World Cup, he played five matches, but he couldn’t fully capitalize on the chances he got. This is another problem that Kolkata needs to rectify, and Rinku Singh is one of them.”

On the other hand, Pathan backed mystery Varun Chakravarthy to get back into form in IPL 2026. Chakravarthy ended the T20 World Cup as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps but conceded his runs at a high economy rate of 9.25.

Pathan said, “The challenge is how to bring Varun back with confidence given his current dip in form. He will play 14 matches, some of which will be at Kolkata’s ground, and he has definitely performed well in this league before. With the good memories he has in Kolkata, perhaps in a slightly different atmosphere, he might perform even better. I believe he will manage it, so although this is a challenge, Varun Chakaravarthy will overcome it.”

Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on 29th March.