Rinku Singh was in destruction mode literally in the second T20I against South Africa on Tuesday, December 12 in Gqeberha as he smashed his maiden fifty in the form for India. Rinku, who has been building towards his first milestone in the blues for the last few months, finally achieved his first-ever half-century in seven innings in T20Is and it came when the Indian team needed the most.
After being put in to bat, India found themselves in early trouble losing both openers Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal by the second over. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma rescued the innings with a rapid partnership before Rinku arrived at the crease in the powerplay itself. Rinku had to curb his natural instincts for a few overs before going berserk and he followed the plan to the T as he and Surya made South Africa pay.
Rinku picked his spots and after being set pierced the gaps and got boundaries with ease. He got to his fifty off just 30 balls including nine fours. Rinku was yet to hit a six and he then smashed two in a row as India were inching towards a big finish, especially after losing captain Suryakumar Yadav and Jitesh Sharma.
Rinku didn't let Aiden Markram get through his over as he hit a big one over long-on before smashing a straight one, like an arrow. The second one on the final ball of the 19th over smashed the media box glass, resulting in a crack. One of the BCCI's media team members Rajal Arora shared the picture of the impact the media box glass took as Rinku reached 68 off 39 balls.
Watch the video here:
Rinku didn't get the strike in the three balls of the final over before rain stopped the play and India didn't get to bat again. South African pacer Gerald Coetzee was unfortunate to miss out on a chance to bowl the hat-trick ball but he will be glad eventually that his team won as the Proteas batters made a mockery of the DLS adjusted target of 152. The game was reduced to 15 overs per side and the hosts chased it down in just 13.5 to take a 1-0 lead.
