A landmark of 50 IPL matches for a single team is no mean feat — more so if you are someone like Rinku Singh.

It has been a life-changing journey for the ever-smiling Rinku, who went from being an 'also ran’ warming the benches since his recruitment in 2018 to one of Kolkata Knight Riders’ finest finishers in recent times.

‘’The five 6s which I hit in that last over against the in 2023 was a life-changing experience for me,’’ the 28-year-old — who was felicitated by his KKR teammates on the eve of Thursday’s match against the — has often said.

Needing 31 runs in the last over against the Titans in a league game in the 2023 edition, Rinku launched into a hapless Yash Dayal to steer the Knights to a dream win — and finished the season as one of their highest scorer with 474 runs.

It’s form that Rinku has not been able to recapture last year when the Knights went on to win the title after 10 years — though one factor which may have gone against him was coming too low down the order a number of times.

The last two years have seen him break into the Indian T20 team off and on. He was also a travelling reserve with ’s squad which regained the T20 World Cup in the US and the Caribbean last year.  

The boy from Aligarh, whose rags-to-riches story has been one of the most fascinating stories in Indian cricket, is now among the ‘seniors’ in the Purple Army. And as if on cue, he celebrated it with a quickfire innings of 32, as he and vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer (60 off 29 balls) piloted the team to their first 200-mark total this season — a potentially matchwinning one.

But where are the crowds?

A surprising element at the Eden Gardens, always known to provide packed audiences, has been its failing to throw up packed stands in an IPL game — the first time in quite a while. There were conspicuously empty spaces in the terraces that did not fill up even as the evening wore on while the Knights batted first.

It’s only the second game at home for the defending champions, who have had a mixed run so far with one win and two losses until today’s game.

However, the state of the KKR campaign has hardly reflected on the numbers over the years — even day games have produced choc-a-bloc attendance even in oppressive heat.

Could it be the prohibitive ticket prices then, plus the heat and humidity on a working day, which produced a crowd barely in the region of 30,000?

It’s a point to ponder for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) officials, surely!