Follow UsAfter a lukewarm Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Rinku Singh’s stocks are now on the rise yet again. The Uttar Pradesh batter has shown the world his red-ball prowess, with a towering 176 to help his state salvage a crucial first-innings lead against Tamil Nadu, on November 19 (Wednesday).
It was almost like the entire Tamil Nadu team vs one Rinku, as the left-hander showed great batsmanship in the clash at the SNR College Cricket Stadium in Coimbatore. After the hosts had put on a stellar 455 on board, it seemed like they had already put themselves in a comfortable position for points on board.
But that’s where Rinku walked in, and single-handedly ruined all their plans. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) man put on a 104-run partnership with former KKR all-rounder Shivam Mavi (54) before combining well with the lower-order batters to help UP salvage a first-innings lead.
Rinku had a 53-run stand with Shivam Sharma, a 59-run partnership with Kartik Yadav and a 36-run stand with Aaqib Khan, where he scored the bulk of the runs. When the left-hander was dismissed for 176, it seemed like Tamil Nadu would take a crucial lead in the encounter, but that didn’t happen as the last pair took the visitors over the first-innings line.
The KKR batter was proactive against TN captain, Sai Kishore, scoring 41 off 57 balls, but really took on former KKR pacer Sandeep Warrier, whom he hit for 35 runs off just 48 deliveries.
It wasn’t the first time that Rinku had bailed out his state, with the left-hander having an impressive first-class average of 57.39, with over 3500 runs.
Across his last four first-class innings, the left-hander has scores of 176 (vs TN), 165* (vs AP), 68 (vs Punjab) and 89 (vs Haryana). With the Indian side struggling to find someone attacking to take the game away from the opponents in the middle-order, Rinku’s form could be a blessing in disguise.