Rinku Singh To Lead UP In Vijay Hazare Trophy

Explosive India batter Rinku Singh was on Friday named Uttar Pradesh captain for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, marking his first stint as skipper at the senior state level. He succeeds Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who led the side in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Rinku, who led Meerut Mavericks to the UPT20 League title earlier this year, is keen to make the most of this opportunity. He scored 210 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161.54 largely as a finisher in the tournament.

"It was a big opportunity for me to lead Meerut Mavericks in the UPT20 League, and I am happy that I could deliver," Rinku was quoted saying in ESPNCricinfo. "I really enjoyed captaincy as it allowed me to learn many things."

In IPL, Rinku, the designated finisher for Kolkata Knight Riders, was retained by the franchise alongside Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy and Ramandeep Singh.

The reigning champions will have a new captain this season after they released Shreyas Iyer, who has now joined Punjab Kings.

In such a scenario, Rinku's captaincy will be in focus in the domestic one-dayers as KKR also have the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer as their potential captain for the next IPL.

"I am not thinking too much about the captaincy of KKR in the new IPL season," Rinku said. "I am focused on my plans for Uttar Pradesh, as I want my team to regain the trophy we had won for the first time in 2015-16."

The national selectors will have a close look at the Vijay Hazare Trophy to finalise the India squad for the Champions Trophy in February-March next year.

While Rinku has become a regular for India in T20Is, he has so far played just two ODIs, having made his debut a year ago in South Africa. Rinku has amassed 1,899 runs in 52 List A innings at an average of 48.69. UP kick off their campaign against Jammu and Kashmir on December 21.