Rinku Singh Shines with Century as UP Battles Back in Ranji Trophy

The inaugural phase of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 has started. Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are playing in the Elite Group A game at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Andhra Pradesh's cricket team scored 470 runs in 143 overs in their first innings during this game. Uttar Pradesh, in retaliation, lost their leading four batsmen for just 152. Rinku Singh then joined and, showing restraint, made a brilliant century, pulling Uttar Pradesh back into the game. By lunch on the fourth day of the match, Uttar Pradesh had scored 381 runs for the loss of 7 wickets, still trailing by 89 runs.

Andhra Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat first, and openers Abhishek Reddy and Srikar Bharat gave them a solid start. Reddy was dismissed for 36 at the score of 93. A 194-run partnership for the second wicket between Sheikh Rashid and Srikar followed this. Srikar played a brilliant innings of 142 runs. After this, Rashid held on at one end, while wickets kept falling at the other end. Rashid played a brilliant century of 136 runs. Andhra Pradesh was all out for 470 runs in the first innings.

Uttar Pradesh had a disastrous start to their first innings, losing their first wicket in the form of Abhishek Goswami at the score of just 25. Then there was a 119-run partnership between Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal for the second wicket. Madhav was out after scoring 54 runs. Then the team suffered two back-to-back blows at the score of 152, and the team got into trouble.

After this, Rinku Singh came on the field and made a comeback in the match by scoring a century while holding one end. By lunch on the fourth day, Rinku Singh was playing with 129 runs on 230 balls, and Shivam Sharma was playing with 15 runs on 77 balls. Meanwhile, UP has scored 381 runs on seven wickets and is still 89 runs behind.