LUCKNOW, Nov. 14 -- Former champions Uttar Pradesh on Thursday got a big boost as Team India's T20 specialist batter Rinku Singh joined the side for the season's last Ranji Trophy match of the first phase against Tamil Nadu, scheduled to be played from November 16 to 19 at Coimbatore. After hitting the match-winning boundary against Pakistan in the Asia Cup final at Dubai this September, Rinku could play just one match for the side against Andhra, and finished with Player of the Match award for hitting an unbeaten 165 at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur last month. It was a great show by Rinku as while chasing Andhra's first innings total of 470, Uttar Pradesh were 5/178 with almost all the top order batters already back to the pavilion. But Rinku kept his nerves under control, stitching 42-runs for the sixth wicket with Aaradhya Yadav (17), 112 runs for the seventh wicket with Vipraj Nigam (42) and 101 runs for the eighth wicket with Shivam Sharma (38) before adding an unbeaten 38 runs for the ninth wicket and helped Uttar Pradesh salvage draw and bag vital three points. This wasn't all as his unbeaten 273-ball knock, which contained 13 boundaries and two sixes, helped him go past former stalwarts Rahul Dravid, Saba Karim and current Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in India's all-time highest first-class averages, with a minimum of 50 innings. Rinku's first-class batting average has now soared from 54.68 to 57.39, the tenth highest all-time among Indian cricketers with a minimum of 50 innings. After a valiant effort, Rinku eclipsed Dravid and Jadeja. In the overall tally, Vijay Merchant, who notched over 13,000 runs at an average of 71.64, sits at the summit. The legendary batter, followed by Shantanu Sugwekar and KC Ibrahim, are the only others in the list to average over 60. But thereafter, Rinku missed three matches of the Elite Group A as he remained busy with Team India in the five-match T20I series against Australia in Australia where he didn't get even a match to play. His absence made a difference as Uttar Pradesh could manage just a draw in the second game on the home turf against Odisha. UP's biggest setback came in the match against hosts Baroda at Baroda when not a single ball could be bowled over four days due to poor outfield and the two teams had to split points. But, they came back strongly and notched up their maiden outright win against lowly Nagaland even without Rinku as Uttar Pradesh defeated the rivals by an innings and 265 runs in three days. "We have to win this match at any cost to stay alive for a berth in the knockout and Rinku's availability for the match is a big boost for the team,' said a team official, requesting anonymity. "Somehow, we managed things on the home turf against Nagaland even with Rinku and bowling all-rounder Vipraj Nigam in Kanpur, but here we desperately need all our good players in the Playing XI against Tamil Nadu," he added. After managing seven points, including a bonus point in the match against Nagaland last week, Delhi-boy Karan Sharma-led Uttar Pradesh have 14 points but are at the fourth position in the table behind Vidarbha (19 points), Jharkhand (18 points) and Andhra (15 points) and only a win can keep their hopes alive for a knockout berth. Probably, the match against Tamil Nadu will be the last Ranji Trophy game for Rinku this season as he is expected to be in the Team India for the five-match T20I home series against New Zealand, scheduled to be played between January 21 to 31, whereas Uttar Pradesh will be playing their two last games of the final phase against Jharkhand (January 22-25) at Meerut and against Vidarbha (January 29-February 1) at Nagpur. So far, rivals Tamil Nadu have four points with two losses and two draws, but they are capable enough to turn the table on the visitors as they start favourites on the home turf. In this match too, Uttar Pradesh will again be missing the services of Barabanki's Vipraj Nigam, who is busy with India A in the ongoing unofficial ODI series against South Africa A as the last match of the series is due to be played on November 19....