The former cricketer Abhishek Nayar opens on Rinku Singh’s performance in the 1st T20I match against Australia and makes a stunning comparison with allrounder Hardik Pandya and former skipper MS Dhoni.
Former Cricketer Abhishek on Rinku Singh’s match-winning six against Australia
Rinku Singh had an impressive innings during the first T20I match against Australia on November 23, 2023. He helped the side with his death batting skills in the match as he scored 22 runs on 14 balls where India chased down a target of 209 losing 8 wickets with one ball remaining in their innings.
On the critical situation, he took the lead to ensure the path of victory for his side. On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav had a sensational knock of 80 runs in 42 balls.
On the final over, Rinku Singh smashed a four on the first ball of the over from Sean Abbott reducing the required runs to 3 on 5 deliveries. He failed to connect the second ball on the over but managed to pull a run after Matthew Wade failed to stop the ball behind the stumps.
Axar Patel swung his bat on a full-length delivery but couldn’t connect properly, where Abbott took a simple catch. Ravi Bishnoi came to bat where he missed a shot, but Rinku Singh started running as the ball was on the loose, but Ravi was run out on the other side.
When Rinku Singh regained strike, he delivered an impressive delivery on a slower ball towards deep midwicket. On the attempt for the second run, Arshdeep Singh fell short of his ground at the bowler’s end and India lost its third wicket in a single over.
Rinku kept the strike for himself and got ready for his final shot as one run is required to win the match. But he dispatched the ball for a long run but the ball crossed the boundary line. Later, the third umpire revealed that Abbott overstepped and it was declared as no ball.
Even before reaching the six-line, India gained a run to ensure victory, but not adding the six to the score would affect the players’ personal strike rate.
On this occasion, former Indian cricketer Abhishek Nayar applauded the player on death batting skills during the T20I match against Aussies. He spoke about his calmness during the run chase saying, “It takes a lot of character. We speak about someone, who has done it in the IPL and domestic cricket. Just to see Rinku hold his nerve and to have the composure shows that he has grown leaps and bounds,” he said.
“It’s the third time he has done this for India, the third time India needed him to do something special and he turned up. He hasn’t played international cricket for 5-7 years, but has the maturity and skill of someone who has played that long,” he added.
He also made a statement that would increase expectations of the player. He made a comparison on Rinku’s match-winning six with the all-rounder Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni’s match-winning shots during their career.
“It tells you that he has mastered the art of finishing an inning. It’s not easy and it’s been a while since Hardik and MS Dhoni did that for us, but post that, there’s no one, who has played the finisher’s role so well. It’s not just the runs he gets, but the way he gets them. There is a certain calm and composure about the way he’s playing his cricket,” he said.
India and Australia will be facing off each other in the 2nd T20I match on November 26, at Greenfield International Stadium.
