The curious case of Rinku Singh, the domestic all-format superstar who can’t make any India team

First things first. At the time of writing, on December 3, 2025, no cricketer in the world has more runs at a better average than Rinku in all first-class and List A and T20 cricket. The numbers, as are evident, boggle the mind.

Rinku Singh’s record across formats

Of course, this comes with an asterisk. With a 50-innings cut-off, only 11 cricketers in the history of first-class cricket have a higher average than Rinku’s 59.30. Of them, only five – Ajay Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Shantanu Sugwekar, Kamindu Mendis, Vinod Kambli – have played List A (and none of them is within five points of Rinku’s 47.54).

Of these five, Sarfaraz and Mendis are the only ones to have played T20. While the average is not necessarily a great parameter here, neither man comes within 15 points of Rinku’s T20 strike rate of 148. From 35 T20Is, that number reads 162. He is also electric in the field, and can roll his arm over.

Yet, Rinku has never quite come close to being picked for Tests. He played two ODIs as part of a second-string Indian side that toured South Africa in late 2023. He has played in T20Is, but is now out of the 15-member squad for the South Africa series, an indication that he may be on the fringes for the T20 World Cup at home in early 2026.

All that leads to a question: why can Rinku not make it to any first-choice Indian side?

Why Rinku has not played Test cricket

It goes without saying that first-class success does not necessarily translate to runs at the highest level. While the 38 teams in the Ranji Trophy allow chances to cricketers from around the country, they also automatically ensure that there are some easy oppositions.

The selection route to the Indian Test side is extremely structured. Success in the Ranji Trophy helps a cricketer to be selected in the Duleep Trophy squads or for the Rest of India team in the Irani Cup. If a cricketer performs there, they make it to India A, the stage where cricketers have to perform in order to get the final nod.

While undoubtedly a fantastic cricketer, Rinku’s first-class has followed the structure of an unwanted pyramid: the higher the level, the lower his numbers.

Rinku Singh’s first-class numbers

While it is obvious that Rinku is a run-scoring monster in the Ranji Trophy, the runs have not quite come in the Duleep Trophy, and certainly not in the two unofficial “Tests” against the England Lions in 2023/24. Small sample? Perhaps – but so deep and competitive is India’s talent pool that a batter has to make every occasion count.

However, there is reason for optimism. If India do indeed switch from rank turners to “normal” turners for home Tests, they would need their first innings to be big. For that, they may have to call upon the big scorers from domestic cricket – in other words, batters who have the experience of batting long and deep.

Why Rinku is not in the ODI reckoning

Batters have had worse starts to their ODI careers than Rinku (two innings, 41 balls, 55 runs), but he remains a forgotten man. There are multiple reasons for this.

From well before the 2023 World Cup, the Indian ODI XIs included five batters including the wicketkeeper, followed by the all-rounders and the bowlers. Axar Patel’s injury before the World Cup and Hardik Pandya’s during it forced them to change that temporarily, but they switched back the moment one of them was available.

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They have not deviated from this since then. Over time, they have developed Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar as all-round replacements.

Since he does not keep wicket, can Rinku make it as one of the four batters? When everyone is fit, these slots are already filled by Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, captain Shubman Gill, and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer. The competition for the reserve batter’s squad is intense as well, with Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel – the list is long – ready to break through at the slightest opportunity.

Why Rinku has been left out of the T20I side

T20 is the one format where there has been little doubt over Rinku’s international class. His numbers hold up too: with a 500-run cut-off, only nine batters from ICC Full Member nations score at a rate quicker than his 162.

The problem is, three of them – Abhishek Sharma (190), Suryakumar Yadav (164), and Yashasvi Jaiswal (164) – are Indians. Rinku has been unfortunate in that, but with Jaiswal out of the reckoning as well, surely there is room for another 160-plus batter who thrives in the death overs?

Rinku’s omission from the T20I side has more to do with international form than anything else. His numbers have taken a nosedive since the start of the Zimbabwe tour of 2024. Over this phase, he averages 22 and strikes at 141 across 14 innings.

The same Zimbabwe tour also featured India’s first T20Is since the 2024 T20 World Cup, following which Kohli and Rohit retired. As their replacements – Abhishek, Tilak, Sanju Samson – grabbed the opportunities with both hands and the selectors became keen on having Gill across three formats, Rinku’s form wilted away.

A small sample, perhaps, more so if you consider that of all Indians to have faced 20 balls in death overs in the 2025 IPL, only Shreyas Iyer (238) struck at a rate quicker than Rinku (236). T20 finishers are expected to take risks early in their innings: that role is bound to meet streaks of low scores every now and then.

The selectors understand this. Rinku has been part of the Indian set-up. He hit the winning runs at the 2025 Asia Cup (and attained the cult status one associates with a tournament tally of one ball, four runs). He was then part of the 16-member squad that toured Australia for five T20Is but got one game, where he did not bat. He was left out against South Africa only when they culled the squad size to 15.

Rinku would have moved up the pecking order had he bowled (more than he does, that is) or kept wicket, but he does neither. In the Indian T20I set-up, he is the 16th-choice player, waiting for a batting slot to open up at some point.