The team that will play in this year’s T20 World Cup has finally been announced. Rohit Sharma will have Hardik as his deputy in the USA and West Indies. On the other hand, Rinku Singh failed to make the cut in the main squad, which was a surprising call by the BCCI.
Since his debut, he has been a revelation, scoring 356 runs in 11 innings at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.23. These numbers will be extravagant if you consider the fact that he has batted at the No. 6 spot.
The 15 members of the Rohit Sharma-led squad and four travelling reserves were picked after board secretary Jay Shah met with the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel. Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar said that Rinku’s current IPL form went against him.
“Maybe his form in this particular edition of the IPL hasn’t been great. He hasn’t had that many opportunities; maybe that’s the reason why the selectors have not picked him,” Gavaskar told Sports Today.
As reports rose, it indicated that Rinku was involved in a three-way battle with Axar Patel and Washington Sundar during the selection meeting, but Axar eventually won as he is an all-rounder.
The impact player rule in the IPL 2024 has also played a part. With KKR leveraging the option to add an extra batter to their lineup with the rule, Rinku never got an opportunity to play in the top 5 slots. He has only faced 82 balls so far in the IPL and has been required to do very little at the end.
Virat Kohli, who was thought to be dropped for the mega event, made the cut along with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Rishabh Pant also made the cut to boost the middle order and show their power-hitting prowess. Naming four frontline spinners, including the wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, has thinned the pace of the of the bowling attack.