‘You’ve made him a scapegoat,’ former Indian cricketer blasts BCCI for Rinku Singh’s exclusion from WC squad

Former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth has ripped into the selectors for not picking Rinku Singh in the provisional 15-man squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.Srikkanth said Rinku was being made a scapegoat as the selectors picked their favourites in the squad.

The gun finisher, currently plying his trade for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), was surprisingly left out of the squad as the BCCI selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, went with Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya as the finishers.

"I am not at all happy. C'mon all of you. Rinku Singh has been spoken about all over the world. He has performed in each and every opportunity he has got. How can you drop Rinku Singh? You drop anyone else, it doesn't matter. In my view, Rinku Singh should have been there, even if that meant you had to drop Yashasvi Jaiswal," said Srikkanth on his YouTube channel.

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‘Rubbish, rubbish selection’

Ever since making his debut for the Indian team in the T20 format, Rinku has been one of the most consistent batters.In his short 15-match T20I career so far, Rinku has scored 356 runs at an average of 89 and strike rate of 176.24- a stat combination that not many modern batters can boast of, especially in the Indian squad.

"He has played match-winning knocks in South Africa. Remember the game against Afghanistan in which Rohit scored a hundred? India were 22 for 4, from there, they scored 212. Rinku played a crucial knock,"said Srikkanth.

"He has given his all whenever he played for India. This is rubbish, rubbish selection. Why do you need 4 spinners? All of them have to go? You have made the selection to please a few people and you have made Rinku Singh a scapegoat."

Srikanth's sentiments were echoed by the fans who said Indian cricket had once again taken '10 steps back' following the squad announcement. India went into the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups with a similar conservative outlook and paid the price for it.

At a time when most nations have moved on with the demands of the shortest format of the game, BCCI continues to rely on old workhorses to get the job done.

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

(With inputs from agencies)