From being a math geek to tearing apart bowling attacks in the IPL, Rahul Tripathi, the 31-year-old born in Ranchi, finally got his maiden India call-up when the selectors announced the squad for the two-T20I tour of Ireland scheduled for later this month.
Tripathi’s exclusion from the ongoing South Africa T20I series was shocking given his staggering show in the IPL 2022 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, now with the place vacated by Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, both of whom will be leaving for the Edgbaston Test, Tripathi received his maiden invitation to the national unit.
In a lacklustre season for the SRH, Tripathi was their brightest spot – scoring 413 runs at a strike rate of 158.23.
Here are some lesser-known facts about Rahul Tripathi:
Tripathi was born in 1991 in Ranchi to an Army Colonel, Ajay Kumar Tripathi, and his father played at the junior cricket level for Uttar Pradesh and for his University. He also spent his childhood days in Jammu & Kashmir where his father was posted.
When the army transferred Ajay Kumar to Pune, he promptly ensured that his son got formal cricket training. Rahul soon began to play for Deccan Gymkhana, one of the oldest clubs in Pune and got to make his first-class debut for Maharashtra in 2012.
Tripathi holds a B.Sc degree in Mathematics and is believed to have regularly scored over 90 marks in his exams.
Although he struggled in first-class cricket for a while, he was picked up by Rising Pune Supergiant for INR 10 lakh in 2017. He duly repaid the franchise’s faith by smashing 391 runs in the 2017 IPL at a strike rate of 146 and helped the side through to the final.
Then he had a couple of underwhelming seasons at RR before moving to KKR where, in 2020 and 2021, he was used as a middle-overs basher, the role he excelled in this year for SRH.
The right-hander also holds the feat of having hit six sixes in an over on two occasions in local cricket.
