Image Credit- AP
Rinku Singh is celebrating the first India-Australia
T20I in Visakhapatnam by extending his arms wide. He hit Sean Abbott for a six
over long-on with the last ball of the match still needing one run, capping
India’s most successful T20I chase.
Rinku’s strength as a finisher is his cool head and
composed demeanour. Having a solid platform that requires very little initial
movement enables him to handle each ball as it comes rather than planning
ahead. This was also on show at Thiruvananthapuram during the second Twenty20
International. Take the Indian innings’ last ball. A high full toss was bowled
by Nathan Ellis from around the wicket. Most hitters want to smash the ball as
hard as they can at that point. Rinku, however, remained motionless and just
opened the bat’s face to direct it between the short third and the keeper for a
four.
He had handled pace and length changes with skill,
smashing Abbott for three fours and two sixes in the preceding over. Rinku
finished with a strike percentage of 344.44 and scored 31 runs off of nine
balls. Only Hardik Pandya (32*) has scored more in a nine-ball innings in
Twenty20 Internationals featuring Full Member nations. After 18 overs, India
was aiming for 220 at 190 for 3. They were up to a dew-proof 235 for 4 thanks
to Rinku’s knock.
Suryakumar Yadav, India’s captain for this series, was
also full of praise for Rinku. “When he came out to bat in the first game,
we needed about 40 runs from 24 balls [55 from 31],” Suryakumar said.
“The composure he showed was brilliant. And the same thing today when
asked to bat in the last two overs. He providing that finish reminded us of
someone.”
Suryakumar probably had MS Dhoni in mind, but perhaps
he didn’t want to put any pressure on the newcomer. So when prodded for a name,
he said with a laugh: “Everyone who has done this for India.”
India’s primary focus, prior to this series, was
50-over cricket because it was an ODI World Cup year. They often rested several
of their first-choice players for Twenty20 Internationals. Some of the little
players then had opportunities as a result. One of them, Rinku, has arguably
made the most of those opportunities while batting in the most challenging
position in Twenty20 cricket.
In August, Rinku made his T20I debut. He has batted
just four times and has participated in seven games thus far. However, he has
struck out just once and scored 128 runs with a strike rate of 216.94 in those
four innings. Since the 2014 T20 World Cup, he has batted for India from No. 5
to No. 7, and his strike rate is comfortably the best.
With Hardik assuming more of an anchor’s role lately,
India are searching for their next finisher for the T20 World Cup in June. At
the moment, Rinku is the frontrunner.