Ajit Agarkar (chief selector of team India) had to make a tough call regarding the selection of the Indian squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup. He unfolded on his call to vacate Rinku Singh from the 15-man Squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which is to be played in the West Indies and the USA.
The southpaw’s (Rinku Singh) exclusion from the T20 squad raised quite a few questions and the reactions were justified, given the outstanding numbers by Rinku Singh. He averages an amazing 89 with a strike rate of 176.23. Rinku has shown in the last 2 years that he can play the waiting game as well which is priceless in the shortest format of the game.
Rinku Singh has done nothing wrong- Ajit Agarkar
In the meanwhile, addressing the press conference with Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar clarified that Rinku Singh not being a part of the squad was the consequence of the team itself, not his (Agarkar’s). He mentioned:
“It’s probably the toughest thing we had to discuss. He has done nothing wrong. I don’t think it has anything to do with Rinku Singh. It’s not his fault that he has missed out. It’s more the 15 that we felt gives with two keepers who are already terrific batters. So we just thought having another bowling option would be handy. He is still one of the traveling subs. That’s how close he was,”
The Indian team will be led by Rohit Sharma. In this IPL season, the Mumbai Indians (MI) captaincy was given to Hardik Pandya. However, he feels that this particular situation won’t affect his mental state in the T20 World Cup. He opined:
“It’s part of life. Not everything will go your way. I have not been captain before as well and I have played under other captains. So it is nothing new to me. You try to do whatever you can do as a player and I have only tried to do that for the last month or so,”
All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who took over the reign of captaincy from Rohit Sharma at Mumbai Indians (MI), will be the veteran opener’s deputy at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Ajit Agarkar ceased the ongoing debate over Virat Kohli’s strike rate
Both Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma started chuckling a bit when asked about the ongoing debate on Virat Kohli’s strike rate. Ajit Agarkar was quick to respond to this matter by implying that there isn’t any debate regarding the former Indian captain’s place in the squad and mentioned he was enchanted with the way Kohli had been performing in the IPL 2024.
To this, Agarkar stated:
“Virat Kohli’s strike rate I don’t think we have been discussing (laughs). Look I think he has been in great form fortunately in the IPL. So no concerns there at all. There’s a gap between IPL and international cricket and that’s where experience does matter a lot,”
Rohit Sharma gave a hint as to why India chose to have four spinners in their 15-man squad. Although, he mentioned that he won’t provide the complete reason before the T20 World Cup press conference, which is to be held in the West Indies. He stated:
“I don’t want to go into too much detail on it because I am sure opposition captains will be listening to this. I will give a very short answer. I definitely wanted four spinners. We know the conditions there. The matches start in the morning like 10-10:30. Maybe the first press conference I will do in the West Indies I will give more details on this,”
India’s T20 World Cup Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice Captain), Yashavi 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.