Now, Rinku targets to complete 1000 runs in Irani Cup
LUCKNOW: Rinku Singh needed 47-odd runs to complete 1000 runs in Ranji Trophy when he came out to bat in the second innings against Saurashtra in the quarterfinal here last month.
It didn’t happen then as on the very first ball he was caught brilliantly by H Desai off DA Jadeja.
End of Rinku’s innings also ended all hopes of hosts and former champions Uttar Pradesh of a comeback in the match, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium.
But the efforts of the Aligarh boy didn’t go waste and he got selected in the India Board President’s XI squad to play a tour game against England Lions at Thiruvananthapuram early this week where he scored 13 each in two innings.
Rinku, who has survived in odd conditions on family front and his father was a delivery man of gas cylinder, on Thursday got another chance not only to score 1000 runs in domestic cricket this season, but to draw the attention of national selectors for uplift in his career.
An aggressive left-hand middle-order batsman Rinku has been picked up in the Rest of India team to play against Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha in the Irani Cup to be played at Nagpur from February 12 to 16. The other man from Uttar Pradesh in the squad is lanky Ankit Rajpoot, who has so far taken 41 wickets in Ranji Trophy this season.
“It’s an opportunity for me to complete 1000 runs this season and draw the attention of selectors towards me. I will try to exploit the conditions as much as I could,” Rinku said on Thursday soon after getting the news of his selection.
“It’s just a beginning and I will try to give my 200% for the team as its my hunger for runs, which keeps me motivating,” he added.