India T20I batter Rinku Singh continued to shine in first-class cricket on Friday (October 18) – where does his first-class average rank among India's highest of all-time?
Rinku Singh scores career-best 165* in Ranji Trophy
In the opening round of this season's Ranji Trophy, Uttar Pradesh took on Andhra Pradesh at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Andhra skipper Ricky Bhui chose to bat after winning the toss, and the top order made merry as KS Bharat (142) and Shaik Rasheed (136) helped themselves to centuries in a 194-run second-wicket stand.
Match 18, Uttar Pradesh vs Andhra
vs
- Ball by ball Over
They finished with a competitive 470 after batting nearly two days, so a draw was the most likely outcome. That meant the team taking the first-innings lead would come away with more points.
UP's Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal put on 119 for the second wicket, but both departed in the same over, bringing India international Rinku Singh to the crease at 146-3. That soon became 152-4 and 178-5. With Aaradhya Yadav's dismissal, UP were 220-6 and still well behind the game.
But Rinku, on 36 at the time, found support from No.8 Vipraj Nigam (42) and No.9 Shivam Sharma (36). He did the bulk of the scoring as these two held up their end.
Rinku overtakes Rahul Dravid, Yashasvi Jaiswal
On day four, he made it to an eighth century in first-class cricket, and took UP into a one-run lead, remaining not out on 165, his highest score in the format. That secured his side three points from the encounter, as the sides shook hands on a draw immediately afterwards.
The knock boosted Rinku's first-class batting average from 54.68 to 57.39 – this is now tenth all-time among Indian cricketers, with a minimum of 50 innings. He overtook Rahul Dravid and current India Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal with his latest innings.
The Indian record remains with Vijay Merchant, who made over 13,000 runs at an average of 71.64. Ajay Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Shantanu Sugwekar and KC Ibrahim are the only others to average over 60.
Rinku and Afghan cricketer Zia-ul-Haq (55.86) are now the only two batters with at least 50 first-class innings to average over 55 without scoring a double-century.
Highest first-class averages for Indian players (min. 50 innings)
Player | Span | Innings | Runs | Avg | 100s | 50s | HS |
Vijay Merchant | 1929-1951 | 234 | 13470 | 71.64 | 45 | 52 | 359* |
Ajay Sharma | 1984-2001 | 166 | 10120 | 67.46 | 38 | 36 | 259* |
Sarfaraz Khan | 2014-2025 | 83 | 4685 | 65.98 | 16 | 15 | 301* |
Shantanu Sugwekar | 1987-2002 | 122 | 6563 | 63.1 | 19 | 26 | 299* |
KC Ibrahim | 1938-1950 | 89 | 4716 | 61.24 | 14 | 22 | 250 |
Vinod Kambli | 1989-2005 | 181 | 9965 | 59.67 | 35 | 44 | 262 |
Vijay Hazare | 1934-1967 | 367 | 18740 | 58.38 | 60 | 73 | 316* |
Surendra Bhave | 1986-2001 | 154 | 7971 | 58.18 | 28 | 27 | 292 |
Sachin Tendulkar | 1988-2013 | 490 | 25396 | 57.84 | 81 | 116 | 248* |
| Rinku Singh | 2016-2025 | 73 | 3501 | 57.39 | 8 | 22 | 165* |
Saba Karim | 1982-2001 | 168 | 7310 | 56.66 | 22 | 33 | 234 |
Yashasvi Jaiswal | 2019-2025 | 85 | 4520 | 56.5 | 16 | 16 | 265 |
Rinku Singh: Highest first-class scores
| Score | For | Against | Year |
| 165* | Uttar Pradesh | Andhra Pradesh | 2025 |
| 163* | Uttar Pradesh | Services | 2018 |
| 150 | Uttar Pradesh | Saurashtra | 2019 |
| 149 | Uttar Pradesh | Tripura | 2018 |
| 149 | Uttar Pradesh | Assam | 2019 |
| 127* | Uttar Pradesh | Nagaland | 2022 |
| 122* | Uttar Pradesh | Maharashtra | 2017 |
| 108 | Uttar Pradesh | Orissa | 2023 |
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