Rinku Singh soars past Rahul Dravid, Yashasvi Jaiswal after clinical 165 in Ranji Trophy

Rinku Singh soars past Rahul Dravid, Yashasvi Jaiswal after clinical 165 in Ranji Trophy

Rinku Singh stitched a great rescue act for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy clash against Andhra at Green Park, Kanpur. Although both teams played just one innings each, Uttar Pradesh at one stage were at trouble after a brief collapse.

Rinku walking in at no. 5 showed great temperament to help his side recover from 178/5 and finish at 471/8. The stylish batter, renowned for his six hitting prowess, eventually finished at 165 not-out, featuring 13 boundaries and two maximums.

Rather than playing big shots, Rinku played a responsible innings and kept his team in the contest. Rinku also shared an important 112-run partnership partnership with Vipraj Nigam.

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Rinku’s innings helped Uttar Pradesh save the match after Andhra piled a massive 470/10 on the board.

The knock also saw Rinku surpass former stalwarts Rahul Dravid, Saba Karim and current Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in India's all-time highest first-class averages, with a minimum of 50 innings. With a batting masterclass, Rinku's first-class batting average has now soared to 54.68 to 57.39, the tenth highest all-time among Indian cricketers with a minimum of 50 innings.

After a valiant effort, Rinku eclipsed Dravid and Jadeja. In the overall tally, Vijay Merchant, who notched over 13,000 runs at an average of 71.64, sits at the summit. The legendary batter, followed by Shantanu Sugwekar and KC Ibrahim, are the only others in the list to average over 60.

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With India set to face Australia in a five-match T20I series starting from October 29 to November 8, this innings of Rinku will give selectors confidence, especially when Hardik Pandya is ruled out due to injury.

For Andhra, KS Bharat and Shaik Rasheed slammed tons each. The wicketkeeper-batter hammered 142, featuring 13 fours; while Rasheed scored 136, which included 11 boundaries.