Rahul Tripathi proves his T20 credentials with a blistering knock against Sri Lanka

Rahul Tripathi didn't have the best of international debut, but he compensated for that on his second chance.

India chose to bat in Rajkot on Saturday and Tripathi was sent in early after Ishan Kishan got out in the first over.

Rahul Tripathi shows his class:

Rahul Tripathi took on the Lankan bowlers and gave India a flying start. Although his partner Shubman Gill was finding things a bit difficult, Tripathi had no problem finding the fence as he demolished the Lankan pacers.

He opened his account with a boundary, exactly the way he did in the last match. But then continued his onslaught in the powerplay with some hefty blows. The Maharashtra batter then had a magnificent over in the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana, one of Sri Lanka's most potent bowlers.

He started off hitting the spinner a sweep in the long leg region, then a fantastic boundary through the cover region, and finished it off with a lofty off drive to yield 12 runs from the Theekshana over.

In the next over, Tripathi hit consecutive sixes of Chamika Karunaratne and was looking destined for his maiden fifty. But in the very next ball, another attempted shot over the third man led to his demise.

But nonetheless, Tripathi set the tone for the Indian batting, scoring 35 runs off just 16 balls, comprised of 5 fours and 2 sixes.

Tripathi proves his credential:

Rahul Tripathi has proven his T20 credentials big time and will be hoping to get a few more chances in the coming days.

Rahul Tripathi has been a familiar name in IPL cricket for a long time. Since his debut in 2017, the batter has played 76 matches in IPL, scoring 1798 runs at a strike rate of 140. He can be a demolisher at the top of the order, while can also play in the middle and hone the role of a finisher. Tripathi was in the India squad in the past couple of assignments but got his first opportunity in this Sri Lanka series.

He perhaps would be a bit disappointed that he couldn't convert his amazing start into a bigger score, but without a doubt, if opportunities continue to arrive, he won't let the team down.