IND vs IRE | Rinku Singh unlocked: Batter shines in first India outing

CHENNAI: Aligarh, a city 150 km away from New Delhi, is famous for its locks. Such is the quality of those locks that it is one of the most exported items from the city. On August 18, Rinku Singh became the first player from Aligarh to represent India in international cricket. And his first innings in India colours proved to be the key for India going past 180 in the second.

Losing the toss, India captain Jasprit Bumrah was happy to let his batters make the most of sunny conditions in Malahide. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashaswi Jaiswal gave India a fiery start, but the latter and

Tilak Varma fell in quick succession inside five overs. Sanju Samson and Gaikwad added 71 runs for the fourth wicket before Singh came to the crease in the 13th over.

Finally getting the opportunity to bat after the rain-marred first T20I, the 25-year-old got off to a mark with a lovely cut shot. In the next over, he swept well off Ben White to get his first boundary and looked extremely comfortable doing it.

Even after losing the vice-captain with five overs to go, Singh partnered with fellow left-hander Shivam Dube to keep India in the hunt for a big score. In the penultimate over, he smashed Barry McCarthy, the pick of the bowlers for Ireland, with two sixes and a boundary, including a delightful six over cover off a wide yorker.

A top edge in the final over ended a confident first innings for Singh, who made 38. If his late burst was any indication, the IPL star looked locked and loaded for the international stage.

Brief Scores:
India 185/5 in 20 ovs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 58, Sanju Samson 40, Rinku Singh 38; Barry McCarthy 2/36) beat Ireland 152/8 in 20 ovs (Andrew Balbirnie 72, Mark Adair 23; Jasprit Bumrah 2/15, Prasidh Krishna 2/29 by 33 runs