Rinku set to lead UP in Vijay Hazare Trophy in what will be his first stint as captain in any format or capacity.
Rinku set to lead UP in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He succeeds Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who captained Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which concluded last week and in which they were defeated by Delhi in the quarterfinals.
Rinku will be leading a state squad at the senior level for the first time. He was mostly a finisher, collecting 210 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161.54 to lead the Meerut Mavericks to the UPT20 League championship earlier this year.
“It was a big opportunity for me to lead Meerut Mavericks in the UPT20 League and I am happy that I could deliver,” Rinku said ahead of their Vijay Hazare Trophy opener. “I really enjoyed captaincy as it allowed me to learn many things.
“I did try my hand at bowling [offspin] too at the UPT20 league. Present-day cricket demands a full package – a cricketer who can bat, bowl and field,” he said. “Now, I am focusing on my bowling too. As captain of Uttar Pradesh, I have got bigger role to play and I’m ready for this.”
Rinku’s ascension to the UP squad coincides with his IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, considering their captaincy choices for the 2025 tournament. Along with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, and Ramandeep Singh, he has been a member of the KKR team since 2018 and was kept on before the November mega auction.
“I’m not thinking too much about the captaincy of KKR in the new IPL season,” Rinku said. “I am looking on my plans for Uttar Pradesh. I want my team to regain the trophy we had won for the first time in 2015-16.”
When the national selectors choose India’s ODI team for the Champions Trophy in February, the Vijay Hazare Trophy will help them gain insight into the players. After making his debut in South Africa a year ago, Rinku has only played two ODIs thus far, despite becoming a regular for India in T20Is.
Rinku’s overall List A numbers are impressive. With a strike rate of 94.8 and an average of 48.69, he has amassed 1899 runs in 52 innings, including 117 half-centuries. However, Rinku does not view the Vijay Hazare Trophy as an audition for India.
“I believe in god,” he said. “I didn’t even think of being part of Team India when I struck five consecutive sixes in the IPL last year. That turned out to be the biggest game changer in my life. Even now I feel that if god has decided something for me, I will get that surely, but at the same time, I also need to work hard on my job.’