In a thrilling end to the third and final T20I of the series in Pallekele, India pulled off an astonishing victory against Sri Lanka, thus completing a 3-0 clean sweep. With hosts requiring only nine runs with six wickets remaining from two overs, captain Suryakumar Yadav took everyone by surprise.
Suryakumar decided to hand the ball to Rinku Singh in place of Mohammed Siraj who still had one over left; this was despite Shivam Dube still being available for bowling. This bravery on a spin-friendly track turned out to be brilliant.
Afterward, Suryakumar explained his decision-making in an interview with Sony Sports. He said “The decision for the 20th over was easy; the difficult part was for the 19th over. Siraj and few others had their overs left. But I felt Rinku was better suited for that wicket because I have seen him bowling and I made him practice a lot at nets. I felt it was right and that is why I took that call.”
Initially, there were question marks when Rinku Singh came into bowl but he soon vindicated his captain’s faith in him. Kusal Perera missed the first delivery for dot ball that resulted to an attempted reverse slog while on second ball he mistimed it top edged short-of-a-length delivery from Rinku towards off side where he collected it himself finishing catching dismissal as well as his first T20I wicket.
This did not stop here as far as Rinku is concerned. On last delivery he dismissed Ramesh Mendis resulting into figures of 2/3 which ended his over impressively leaving sri lanka requiring six runs from the last over.
“I knew 19th over has always been difficult for Indian cricket (laughs). That is why I gave the responsibility to Rinku. For a right-hander bowling to a left-hander, it is always difficult for the batter. It was great that he made the best use of his skill and made my work easy because now I have one more bowling option going forward,” He explained.
Suryakumar took the ball himself for last over. Suryakumar bowled with calmness not allowing many runs and pushed the game into a super over.
India won in the Super Over securing a thrilling win which will forever be remembered as Rinku Singh’s heroics came out of nowhere and Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeatable captaincy. This match will long be remember not just for the victory but also for its strategic brilliance that saw it happen.
