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Gautam Gambhir couldn't stop smiling as Rinku Singh takes his maiden T20I wicket to turn game upside down; watch video

IND vs SL 3rd T20I: Noone would have imagined that Suryakumar Yadav would hand the ball to Rinku Singh to bowl the penultimate over but the moved paid off.

Gautam Gambhir reacts to Rinku Singh's maiden T20I wicket (Screengrab: X)
authorArun Rawal
Wed, 31 Jul 09:01 AM IST

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.

 

ALSO READ: 'We can't give excuses': Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka lashes out at middle-order batters for making a mess of run chase
 

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. 

 

ALSO READ: Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh create history, win India’s first ever Olympic medal in 10m Air Pistol mixed team event
 

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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