Rinku Singh picked up in international cricket from where he left in the IPL as he ended up getting the player of the match in his debut innings smashing a 21-ball 38 in the second T20I against Ireland. Rinku, who didn't get to bat in his international debut in the series opener, took some balls to get into his innings batting at No. 5 but exploded when it mattered, in the last two overs. Rinku, who revels in scoring quick runs at the end, made sure that the Men in Blue got to a really competitive score of 185.
Rinku took a few balls to settle in and with Shivam Dube also struggling big-time, he knew that he needed to fire the first blow. In the 19th over of the innings bowled by Barry McCarthy, Rinku went hell for leather smashing a couple of sixes and a boundary. Rinku hit another six in the final over before getting out. However, he did the job as the Men in Blue smashed 42 runs in the last couple of overs, aided by a couple of sixes from Shivam Dube as well.
Rinku struck at 180.95 and it is the second highest strike rate for an Indian player in his debut innings in T20Is for India. Rinku is just behind Suryakumar Yadav, who struck at 183.87 in his debut innings against England in 2021.
Highest strike rate for Indian players in debut innings in T20Is:
Suryakumar Yadav - 183.87
Rinku Singh - 180.95
Tilak Varma - 177.27
Ishan Kishan - 175.00
Ajinkya Rahane - 156.41
Rinku's knock followed well-compiled innings by the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson, who scored 58 and 40 respectively. After that, it was the bowlers' job to defend the total, which they did brilliantly. Prasidh Krishna, Ravi Bishnoi all chipped in before captain Jasprit Bumrah finished it off as, despite a valiant effort from Andrew Balbirnie, the score was too much to get for the home side in the end.
