Rinku Singh's aggressive batting and his match-winning knocks in the Indian Premier League are well known, but on Wednesday, the 28 year old performed another rescue act, this time in the Ranji Trophy.
In the match against Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh were reeling at 191 for 5, trailing by 264 runs before Rinku played a composed century to take his team out of the woods on Day 4 of the Elite Group A match against Tamil Nadu at the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science Ground in Coimbatore.
Rinku smashed a career-best 176 runs from 247 balls, his 100 coming off 157 balls. He built partnerships en route with Shivam Mavi (54), Shivam Sharma, Kartik Yadav and Aaqib Khan to take UP past 400 after Tamil Nadu put up 455 in 136.3 overs. Abhishek Goswami was the next highest run-scorer for UP with 79 runs as they took a slender first innings lead.
This was Rinku's 9th ton in his 53rd first-class match. This was his 2nd Ranji ton in a month's time. In the previous Ranji match against Andhra Pradesh, he scored an unbeaten 165.
He has been at his consistent best this season, his last four scores, including today's ton, reading 89 (110) vs Haryana; 68 (131) vs Punjab; 165* (273) vs Andhra Pradesh; 176 (247) vs Tamil Nadu
Rinku now has 3,760 runs at a stunning average of 59 in first-class Cricket.
On Tuesday, as he helped Uttar Pradesh fight back, national selector Pragyan Ojha was among the spectators watching.
Given his top showing in red-ball cricket, he would feel short-changed for he wasn't picked for the Duleep Trophy while India A opportunities have been few and far between.
Rinku could just be signalling the selectors of his presence for a Test call up and fans are rooting for him...