The climb of Rinku Singh in his professional career in 2023 has been stunning. Terrific performances in the IPL led to his India call-up and he made his debut in Ireland in August. He smashed 38 (21) against Ireland in his debut T20I innings. Rinku then won the Gold Medal in the Asian Games in China.
But today, he delivered an emphatic reminder to every one of his cool and calm mind when he smashed a six on the last ball of the Visakhapatnam T20I against Australia’s Sean Abbott to win the game when one run was needed off one ball. However, the six wasn’t counted as Sean Abbott had overstepped and it was given a no-ball: since the no-ball happened, and India needed only one run, the six to Rinku wasn’t counted as India won the game the moment Abbott overstepped.
However, Rinku didn’t know that Abbott had overstepped and it was no-ball. So that six, though not added to the scoreboard, still did a great deal for Rinku Singh as he accentuates his reputation as a finisher, and someone who can keep his calm under tense run-chase. Of course, he had smacked 5 sixes in 5 balls to Yash Dayal in the IPL. But doing it at the international level with the entire Visakhapatnam crowd chanting his name, and to do it against Australia, showcased Rinku Singh’s abilities to the world.
Rinku Singh scored 22* off 14 balls with 4 fours to his name
However, it shouldn’t have come down to requiring one run off one ball as India needed only 15 runs in 14 balls when Suryakumar Yadav got out. The interim captain for this series, Suryakumar set up India’s chase of 209 runs with his blistering knock of 80 runs in 42 balls, made with 9 fours and 4 sixes. Ishan Kishan played the second fiddle role, scoring 58 runs in 39 balls.
Memes and funny tweets for IND vs AUS match as Rinku Singh became the star:
