India captain and Mumbai Indians opening batsman Rohit Sharma interacted with Rinku Singh following the left-handed batsman’s omission from the 15-man squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. On Tuesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the line-up for the landmark event, which will begin on June 1 in the US and West Indies. KKR’s ace finisher was left out of the squad for the milestone event and was named a traveling reserve, leaving many fans and former cricketers perplexed.
While most of India’s squad selected themselves, there were some surprising decisions, with the omission of Shubman Gill and Rinku prominent among them.
After speaking to the media at a press conference at the BCCI headquarters, Rohit interacted with Rinku at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of MI’s clash with KKR on Friday.
MI posted a video on X, in which Rinku was visibly smiling as Rohit approached the KKR star. In the next clip, Rohit was seen having a serious conversation with Rinku.
Combine Hitman ke ghar rakhoge toh mehman nawazi ke liye Hitman khud aayega an #MumbaiMeriJaan #Mumbai Indians | @ImRo45 | @ShreyasIyer15 | @rinkusingh235 | @KonaBharat | @Gautam Gambhir pic.twitter.com/6W9VRKbZBs
– Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) May 2, 2024
Rinku managed to get into the reserve list after amassing 356 runs for India in 15 T20Is at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.24. He is not included in the ICC World T20 2024 squad.
During Rohit’s press conference, chief selector Ajit Agarkar was also present alongside the Indian captain.
Addressing Rinku’s omission, Agarkar called it one of the “toughest decisions” the selectors had to make. He went on to call the decision “regrettable” for the 26-year-old batsman and stated that Rinku’s exclusion was solely due to the team’s desire to pick four spinners.
“It’s probably the hardest thing we’ve had to discuss. He hasn’t done anything wrong, nor has Shubman Gill. It’s about the combination. As Rohit said, we’re not sure what terms we’ll get. So we wanted to have enough options. Some spinners were included in the team… It’s a shame it has nothing to do with Rinku Singh. 15 we feel… At the end of the day, you can only pick 15,” Agarkar said.
Rohit also interacted with KKR team mentor Gautam Gambhir and captain Shreyas Iyer.
(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