Rinku Singh set to play in Duleep Trophy 2024 from the second match

Rinku Singh's omission from the four Duleep Trophy 2024 squads selected by the selectors turned out to be a big talking point. The left-hander has an astonishing average of 54.70 in first-class cricket but did not find a place in any of the four squads for the Duleep Trophy.

However, reports have emerged that Rinku will be playing Duleep Trophy this year. The 26-year-old will be joining one of the teams from the second match of the tournament.

Also read: Gautam Gambhir's influence exposed in Morne Morkel's appointment as India's new bowling coach

Rinku Singh set to play in Duleep Trophy 2024 from the second match

The first round of matches in Duleep Trophy 2024 will take place from September 5-8. A no. of seasoned India internationals like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and many more are part of the squads currently.

However, some of these players will leave before the second round of Duleep Trophy matches to be a part of India's squad for the home Test series against Bangladesh. The second round of matches will be from September 12-15 at Anantapur

This will open up the possibility for some other players to make it to the prestigious tournament. According to the reports, Rinku Singh is one of those players and will join one of the teams before the second round of matches.

Hearing that he will play 4rm 2nd game

— Kushan Sarkar (@kushansarkar) August 14, 2024

Rinku Singh's non-selection raised a lot of questions on the selectors' decision. The 26-year-old has been a favorite among the Indian crowd and always receives loud cheers whenever he makes his appearance.

Rinku Singh's insane numbers in first-class cricket

Alongside being a valuable T20 player, Rinku Singh has brilliant numbers in first-class cricket as well. The left-hander has a fair amount of experience in first-class cricket having scored 3173 runs in 47 first-class matches at an average of 54.70 and a strike rate of 71.59 while playing for his state Uttar Pradesh. He has scored 7 hundreds and 20 fifties in his first-class career.

A few months ago, Rinku was also omitted from India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad despite insane numbers under pressure situations. In T20Is, Rinku Singh has scored 418 runs in 23 matches at a brilliant average of 59.71 and a strike rate of 174.16 but India's strong squad meant that he wasn't selected for the tournament. However, he was selected among India's reserves for the tournament and traveled with the team.

Players to watch out for in Duleep Trophy 2024

The Duleep Trophy 2024 is seen as an important tournament for some of the top Indian international players to get back into the red-ball mode after months of T20I and ODI cricket. This will also mark Rishabh Pant's return to red-ball cricket since his life-threatening accident.

It is a great opportunity for players like Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Devdutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan, and Mukesh Kumar to get back into the national team reckoning with strong performances here.