The former Indian batter, Ambati Rayudu expressed his heartfelt disappointment with Rinku Singh‘s exclusion from the T20World Cup, despite his amazing showcase of prowess in finishing games. Rinku Singh has been a consistent performer for the Men in Blue over the last 2 years as he not only has the knack of smashing bowlers all around the park but can also take the team out of the muddle.
Rinku Singh has been a dependable player on many occasions. He has played in at least 15 T20s, scoring an average of 89 and maintaining a strike rate of 176.23. According to his (Rayudu) claims, India doesn’t have a reliable finisher instead of Jadeja, so Rinku should have been a part of the 2024 T20 World Cup squad.
Rinku Singh’s omission clearly indicates stats rule over cricketing sense- Ambati Rayudu
Ambati Rayudu took it to X (formerly Twitter) and lashed out an indirect dig at the selectors for opting for reputation over quality while selecting the T20 World Cup Squad. This is what he mentioned:
“Rinku Singh’s omission clearly indicates stats rule over cricketing sense… who in this selected Indian has been walking out in the 16th and 17th over in a T20 game in the last 2 years and playing fluently with a high strike rate and can win a game except Ravindra Jadeja… he is a big miss.. quality should come before quantity and most importantly cricketing ability should come before likability on Instagram,”
Except for Ambati Rayudu, no one else knows what Rinku Singh is going through after he was snubbed off the T20 World Cup squad list, the same as before in the 2019 World Cup. This decision has outraged sparks amongst the fans.
Tom Moody behind India’s logic: Brushing out Rinku Singh from the T20 2024 squad
Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody hoped to know the reason behind the exclusion of Rinku Singh from the 2024 T20 squad. Moody illustrated that India wanted to fill up the squad with all-rounders and quality spinners and this is why the situation was created where they could choose only one between Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh.
Claims about Dube getting selected instead of Rinku because of his bowling, Moody stated on ESPNCricinfo:
“The way I see it, it had nothing to do with form, it had everything to do with the fact Dube can bowl. If Rinku Singh could bowl, if both were identical cricketers, left-hand batters who could bowl part-time medium pace, he would be in that squad,”
Still, India can choose to make changes to their 15-member squad till May 25 according to the ICC guidelines. It would surely be awesome to see Rinku Singh getting selected in the squad, if he can do something remarkable in IPL 2024.