UPT20 2025: Rinku Singh repaid the faith shown by the Indian team selectors for picking him in India's Asia Cup squad by scoring a brilliant century during a UP T20 match on Thursday. Rinku, who is also the captain of Meerut Mavericks, had hit eight sixes in his 48-ball knock and led his team to a six-wicket victory against Gaur Gorakhpur Lions. He had scored an unbeaten knock of 108 runs and helped the team chase the target of 168 runs with seven balls remaining.

During the 19th over, he had smashed three consecutive sixes in Gorakhpur bowler Vasu Vats' over and thus brought up his century off just 45 balls. His match-winning knock consisted of seven fours and eight sixes, and at a staggering strike rate of 225. His batting prowess helped Meerut finish in the third position in the UP T20 points table.

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During the first innings, Gorakhpur Lions suffered an early blow as opener Aryan Juyal fell cheaply during the first over. Captain Dhruv Jurel and Akshdeep Nath then helped the team bounce back by stitching a gritty partnership of 45 runs, and then Nishant Kushwaha's quickfire knock of 37 runs helped the team post a respectable target of 167 runs.

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Rinku helped the team chase the target single-handedly. The Gorakhpur bowlers looked clueless as Rinku entertained the fans in Lucknow.

Rinku smashed the knock immediately after he was included in India's 15-member team for the Asia Cup 2025, which would be held next month. But his selection had also surprised a few people as he had pipped Washington Sundar.

During the press conference, Ajit Agarkar, who is the selector of the Indian cricket team, revealed why they picked Rinku Singh over Washington Sundar. Agarkar reckoned that Rinku does fulfill their requirement of having an extra batter in the side.

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“He [Sundar] has always been in the scheme of things. At the moment, we have two mystery spinners/wristspinners in Varun and Kuldeep, and Axar has been around for a while. When we need four spinners, he may always be in the mix. For now, we felt we needed an extra batter in Rinku. And you could only pick 15. If there were 16, maybe he could’ve been in," Agarkar told reporters during the press conference.

Rinku had proved his naysayers wrong, and this just proves that he is all set to go guns blazing during his debut Asia Cup.