The BCCI announced Team India's squad for the five-match T20I series against West Indies from August 3-13 in the Caribbean and the United States of America. While most of the squad was on the expected lines, Rinku Singh's omission has left many flabbergasted as the 25-year-old was ignored despite his heroics in the IPL 2023 as a finisher.
Rinku single-handedly won two games for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) out of nowhere and almost won them a third against the Lucknow Super Giants in his side's final league stage game in IPL 2023. Apart from his famous five-ball-five-sixes finish against the Gujarat Titans, Rinku consistently played knocks under pressure for KKR and emerged triumphant more often than not.
With 474 runs in 14 matches at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52, Rinku was head and shoulders above any other middle-order batter in the tournament, leave alone just the Indians. However, the selectors chose to go with Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma in the main squad with Yashasvi Jaiswal earning his maiden call-up in T20Is in the top-order.
Rinku's exclusion invited some angry reactions from fans. Most of the users felt gutted for Rinku, who has been performing consistently not just in the IPL but also in domestic cricket. One of the fans hoped that Rinku is not another Sarfaraz Khan, who despite scoring mountains of runs in domestic cricket hasn't been picked in the Test side.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan was hopeful that Rinku's time will come. Here are some of the reactions:
Apart from Rinku, another top performer in the IPL Jitesh Sharma was also ignored while Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored 590 runs for the title-winning Chennai Super Kings, also didn't find a place. Rahul Tripathi and Deepak Hooda, who were part of the side in the last series were left out after poor IPL seasons.
Team India squad for West Indies series: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
