Rinku Singh, from the time he grabbed the headline with those five straight sixes against Gujarat Titans in the IPL, has given a breath of fresh air to T20 batting. The left-hander middle-order batter has time and again shown that he is not averse to going for the big shots against big names. With the 2024 T20 World Cup just over six months away in June, Rinku Singh's performance will be closely monitored. And with the perilous form that Rinku Singh is in, the Indian cricket team management would be mighty happy.
Rinku Singh enhanced his credential as a finisher with a maiden half-century while skipper Suryakumar Yadav played in his inimitable way to take India to 180 for seven in the second T20 against South Africa in the second T20I on Tuesday. Playing for the first time in South Africa, Rinku took his time initially before working the field beautifully. His square of the wicket shots stood out in his well-paced innings including fours and two sixes off Aiden Markram.
His three sixes came as he got inside the line of the ball to send the ball over the ropes. Two were in the fine leg region and one over midwicket. One of his sixes broke the glass of the media box.
Put in to bat, India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill for six runs before Surya (56 off 36) led front the front and forged fine partnerships with Tilak Varma (29 off 20) and then Rinku (68 not out off 39). It was not the smoothest of starts for India, who lost Jaiswal and Gill in the first two overs.
Rain arrived at St George's Park with three balls left in the innings and Gerald Coetzee on a hat trick having got rid of Ravindra Jadeja and Arshdeep Singh in consecutive balls.
Coming in at number three, Varma looked good in the middle before getting caught at deep third man in the sixth over. What followed was a 70-run stand between Surya and Rinku. Surya played like he usually does, collecting a chunk of his runs behind the wicket.
Jaiswal could not control the cut short against Marco Jansen to be brilliantly caught by David Miller at backward point. Verrma could have departed in similar fashion two balls later but Miller could not hold on to that sharp chance.
Shubman Gill was trapped in front by Lizaad Williams who got the ball to nip back from length. Despite the initial pressure, the Indian batters kept batting aggressively.
With PTI inputs