LUCKNOW, Sept. 3 -- Two hundred plus matches, 400 plus wickets over all formats, pacer Ankit Rajpoot is satisfied with his cricketing career. After quitting Uttar Pradesh side in 'dejection' in October 2024, Kanpur's Rajpoot went on to play MAX60 Caribbean for Vegas Vikings and took six wickets in eight matches. Before that Rajpoot imparted bowling tips to the next generation of Uttar Pradesh during the off-season camps at Kanpur and then joined Gorakhpur Lions as head coach in the ongoing UPTwewnty20 League here in Lucknow. "Coaching thrills me as I enjoy sharing knowledge with younger generation," said Rajpoot on Tuesday as his side, Gorakhpur Lions, take on local outfit, Lucknow Falcons, in the second play-off of the UPTwenty20 League on Wednesday, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here. If Gorakhpur Lions lose the tie on Wednesday, they will be eliminated, whereas the winner of the match will play with the losers of the first play-off between defending champions Meerut Mavericks and Kashi Rudras on Thursday. The winner of the match will directly play the final on Saturday at 7.30 p.m. "Now, it's a fresh start for the side as now there is no second chance in the tournament if we lose tomorrow. It's time for the boys to pull up their socks and give their best against Lucknow Lions," said Rajpoot. However, he admitted that the absence of Team India cricketer Dhruv Jurel and opening batter Aryan Juyal, has been a big setback for the side as both are with the Central Zone team in the ongoing Duleep Trophy, and Jurel, who is drafted as a stand by in Team India for the next week's Asia Cup at Dubai, will fly to his destination also next week. "You can't expect a similar replacement of a Team India cricketer in the side, but still we have good stuff to replace them. The last-minute withdrawal of pacer Yash Dayal too hampered the side at the beginning of the tournament," he said. Besides playing for Uttar Pradesh for almost 12 years, Rajpoot bowled for many IPL franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants, and also played for India A, India Blue, India Emerging Team, Rest of India and India Under-23 and always tried to learn something new. "When you play cricket, you always remain focused on your bowling according to the teams' situations, but during coaching, you need to plan many things at a time. Handling youngsters, especially those who are on the bench in the ongoing UPT20L is something quite tricky as they keep asking about their chances in the matches," he said. "In a team of 25 cricketers, you need to learn and manage everyone as they always have a lot of queries of various types," he said, adding, "In fact, I learnt all those tricks of coaching during my Level 2 course, and now I realise that how important is the knowledge of coaching for me." Certainly, Rajpoot's first full-fledged coaching stint with Gorakhpur Lions will make him understand things better, if he gets another assignment, especially of bowling coach with any of Uttar Pradesh's teams in the forthcoming domestic season. "If I get a chance to work with any team of Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming domestic season, my experience with the Gorkahpur Lions will certainly help me understand things well," said Rajpoot. Availability of Team India batter Rinku Singh for Meerut Mavericks in the remaining matches of the UPT20 League is still in doubt, especially after the match between his side and Kashi Rudras in the first play-off on Wednesday. In fact, Asia Cup-bound Rinku Singh is required to travel with Team India on Thursday as the event in Dubai starts on September 9 whereas Surya Kumar Yadav-led Team India start their campaign with a match against UAE on September 10. "We are now focused on the match against Kashi Rudras tomorrow and will see about Rinku's availability after that only. If required, we will send mails to the concerned authorities to allow Rinku to fly to Dubai later," Meerut Mavericks' head coach, Utkarsh Chandra said....