- By Himanshu Badola
- Thu, 02 May 2024 06:27 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
T20 World Cup 2024 India Squad: Rinku Singh was not picked in India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 set to be played in the West Indies and the USA.
BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar came up with the revelation on the unfortunate omission of Rinku who was in a race to make it to the team for the finisher's role in the marquee event.
Addressing the press conference alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, Agarkar explained that Rinku did nothing wrong and it was not his fault at all to miss out on the India selection.
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"It [Rinku Singh's omission from the first 15] is probably the toughest thing we have had to discuss," Agarkar said.
"He has done nothing wrong, not even Shubman Gill for that matter. It’s about combinations. There are a couple of wrist spinners included to give Rohit more options. It’s just unfortunate. He's in the reserves, so that tells you how close he came to being in the 15.
"But at the end of the day, you can only pick 15 players in the squad."
Rinku, who made his T20I debut for India last year against Ireland, has played 11 innings so far and has scored 356 runs at a strike rate of 176.23 and an average of 89.
The left-handed batter has batted six times at number five and five innings at number six.
He had a remarkable IPL season last year as he scored 474 runs in 14 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.53.
He received massive praise for his exceptional performance against Gujarat Titans when he smashed Yash Dayal for five sixes in the last over to win the match for KKR.
While the 26-year-old was expected to be a definite inclusion in the World Cup squad, his family had done all the preparations for the celebrations but they were left heartbroken.
We bought firecrackers as we thought Rinku would be in the Playing XI,” Rinku’s father had said.
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“Rinku called his mother and broke the news, he was heartbroken,” he added.
In the IPL 2024, Rinku has lacked batting time as he has batted eight times in KKR's nine matches so far scoring 123 runs at a strike rate of 150 and an average of 20.50.
He didn't get a chance to bat in the top five and has played just 82 balls, which is just about 10 balls per innings.
The T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on June 2 with India kicking off their campaign against Ireland on June 5 in New York whereas their much-awaited clash against Pakistan will be played on June 9 at the same venue.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan