The left-handed attacking batter Rinku Singh is known for his finishing skills but on July 30 he was used as death bowler by skipper Suryakumar Yadav in penultimate over. Rinku answered the call and his maiden T20I over bagged the wicket of set batter Kusal Perera to turn the game upside down. On his second ball, he got the wicket of Kusal Perera which led to a priceless reaction from head coach Gautam Gambhir who had a wry smile on his face.
Rinku was introduced into the bowling attack when hosts Sri Lanka needed nine runs from just 12 balls. He started with a dot ball as Perera missed the reverse-slog and was hit on the body. On the second ball, Rinku bowled a flatter short of a length delivery. Perera attempted the pull shot but the top-edged ballooned up. Rinku took an easy catch to bag his maiden T20I wicket. He departed after scoring 46 runs from 34 balls. As Rinku celebrated with his arms open wide, the camera panned to Gambhir who could not stop smiling in dugout.
On the next ball, new batter Kamindu Mendis took a single. Ramesh Mendis got on strike on the fourth ball and attempted a reverse shot to get a couple of runs. Rinku followed it up with a 102kmph delivery and Mendis could not get it past the fielder inside the 30-yard circle. On the last ball, Ramesh went for a pull short but was caught at deep midwicket by Shubman Gill. In his maiden T20I over, he conceded three runs and took two crucial wickets.
Suryakumar finishes it off
Rinku left six runs to defend in the final over. Then Suryakumar introduced himself, bagged a couple of wickets and took the game into super over. India won the super over easily as Washington Sundar conceded two runs and bowled the hosts out. Suryakumar finished the game with a boundary off Maheesh Theekshana as India registered a thrilling win.
Unwanted record for Sri Lanka
This was Sri Lanka's 105th loss in T20Is, the most by any team in the format. They surpassed Bangladesh who have 104 losses in T20Is.
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