Who is Avinash Singh? RCB's latest signing in IPL 2023 auction

While the IPL teams were fighting over the signature of Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, and Cameron Green, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders squared off in a mini-bidding war of their own. The paddle war was for a relatively unknown pacer named Avinash Singh, hailing from Jammu and Kashmir. The 24-year-old, who is yet to represent his state in domestic cricket, was eventually scalped by RCB for a relatively steep figure of 60 Lakhs.

Hailing from the state which put forward the menacing Umran Malik just a couple of years ago, Avinash Singh is a son of an auto driver, who predominantly played tennis ball cricket until the start of this year. Singh was headed to Canada to pursue other means of earning after failing his latest attempt to clear the Indian Army test last year. 

However, things took an interesting run for the young pacer after he caught the eye of the franchise in March earlier this year. He then impressed in the trials in Bangalore and has been on the radar of the Bangalore-based side for a while now. He was discovered by RCB's AI-based Hinterland scouting.

Avinash, like his statesman Umran Malik, is capable of producing rapid deliveries, and if nurtured properly, can hit the 150Kmph mark in the near future. While the fairytale IPL 2023 auction has changed the fortunes of the young man overnight, it will be interesting to see how the franchise utilizes his talent in the upcoming edition.

“This auction was an opportunity for RCB to venture into the other wing of our scouting, known as Hinterland scouting. It’s a very very objective way of identifying talent where we don’t use human eyes. We have our AI partner helping us out, and identifying talent. When we had gone to Jammu and Kashmir, we had identified Avinash over there. Ever since then, he ticked off a few parameters of us. One of which, the most important parameter is, for him to be able to bowl at a speed of 145(Kilometres per hour),” says RCB’s Head of Scouting, Malolan Rangarajan.