Rinku Singh made 22* to steer India to win against Australia amidst some chaos.
Asked to chase 209 runs after Josh Inglis scored his maiden T20I ton for Australia, Indian batters had no problems despite losing Ruturaj Gaikwad for a diamond duck. Yashashvi Jaiswal made 21 in 8 balls. Then Ishan Kishan (58) and Suryakumar Yadav (80) added more than 100 runs for the third wicket to take India ahead of the needed rate.
However, both the set batters fell in the death overs, leaving Rinku Singh to do the finishing job and he did it in style, scoring 22 not out off 14 balls, to take India to a 2-wicket win.
Post-match, former India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik took to social media platform X to reveal an interesting tidbit about the unique bond between Rinku Singh and his mentor, Abhishek Nayar.
"This is one of the most fulfilling and heartwarming pictures going around. The relationship between ABHISHEK NAYAR and RINKU SINGH,”- Karthik posted.
"Nayar always saw the potential in Rinku, he kept telling me, it was only a matter of time before he did something extraordinary. Coming from a small town in Aligarh, all he needed was to think big, and I think that shift in mindset was what Nayar worked with Rinku majorly about, apart from fine-tuning his death-hitting skills," Karthik noted.
Rinku Singh even stayed with Nayar while recovering from his ACL injury, undergoing rehabilitation and honing his batting skills.
Reflecting on the heartening photo, Karthik praised Nayar's growth as a coach, stating, "Must be a surreal feeling seeing one of your students do well on a world stage and also be lucky enough to watch it live as a broadcaster and call the moment."