Batting great Rinku Singh not finding a place in India’s senior squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Americas has surprised the likes of former all-rounder Irfan Pathan and former Australia captain Aaron Finch, but the legendary Sunil Gavaskar attributed it to the left-handed batsman’s poor form in the ongoing IPL. The BCCI on Tuesday announced a 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies in June, keeping the hard-hitting middle-order batsman, who has played 15 T20Is, in the reserves along with Shubman Gill, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
Pathan was one of the most vocal former players following the announcement, opining in ‘X’ that “Rinku’s recent performance for Team India should not have been ignored”. Former Australia white-ball captain Finch said he was “surprised” by the BCCI selectors picking four spinners in the side and not Rinku.
“I was surprised by the four spinners. Rinku was there and only two spinners,” Finch said on Star Sports.
West Indies great Ian Bishop also expressed his surprise at Rinku’s exclusion, saying, “So if you’re talking about surprises, I think Rinku Singh has done enough in international cricket. He averages well over 60 or 70 in T20Is to maintain a place at 15.
“So that was the only thing that made my ears perk up. I’m just saying that the extra spinner, someone like Axar (Patel), was preferred over Rinku,” Bishop told Star Sports.
Gavaskar, however, felt that Rinku’s form in the ongoing IPL had to do with him not being included in the first team. “Maybe his form in this particular edition of the IPL wasn’t great. He didn’t get that many opportunities, maybe that’s why (the selectors) didn’t pick him,” Gavaskar told Sports Today.
He said he would like to see someone like left-handed pacer T Natarajan in the squad going to the World Cup.
“I was thinking more about T Natarajan, the left-handed bowler. He has been bowling really well, so I thought he could be in the team.”
The former India captain had no doubt that the Rohit Sharma-led team would do well in the landmark event.
“I don’t know why, but this Indian team looks like a very good team, without a doubt. He has a lot of experience, he has great hitters and variety in bowling too,” he opined.
India will go into the showpiece event with four spinners – Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav – and just three specialist fast bowlers, but Gavaskar felt that all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was named Rohit’s deputy on Tuesday, will fulfill the duty of a fourth seamstress.
“Well, there’s Hardik Pandya to bowl, as well as the fourth seam bowler, so maybe that’s the reason why they (selectors) chose four spin bowlers. The bowling in the West Indies… there will be a bit more help for the spinners than for fast bowlers.
“As we saw in the IPL, the slower the deliveries, the harder it is for the batsmen to get it right and perhaps that is why they went for the extra spinner,” Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar felt a glut problem and Shubman Gill’s “patchy” performance in the IPL made the selectors consider him as a reserve player only.
“That’s the blessing India have, they have so many players. In fact, if you can form a second team, that team will also be able to lift this Cup with a little luck.
“So sometimes that happens, sometimes you have to leave a good player out, that’s what seems to have happened with Gill. Once again, his form in recent games has been uneven. have been irregular, which has cost GT victories, GT has won. He hasn’t been scoring, they haven’t been winning,” Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar felt that a change in “attitude” and “approach” from the Indian team, which failed to make an impact in the previous two editions of the T20 World Cup, could ensure that the Rohit-led team lifts the trophy.
“There have been changes in attitude, changes in approach, which we saw in the 50-over World Cup (last year in India), and that bodes well for this (T20) World Cup as well.”
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
This story originally appeared on ndtv.com read the full story
