The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the T20I squad for next month's series against the West Indies and immediately faced backlash from the fans over the team selection.
The Ajit Agarkar-led new selection committee named Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma as the two new faces in the squad to be led by Hardik Pandya.
Captain Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli have been rested for the five-match series which will be played from August 3 to 13 in the Caribbean and Florida, USA.
But the fans were not happy to see the absence of Rinku Singh from the T20I squad despite the batter's outstanding season for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2023.
Rinku Singh amassed 474 runs from 14 games in IPL 2023 at an average of nearly 60 with four half-centuries. He was the ninth-highest run-scorer in the league this season, ahead of 27th-ranked Tilak Varma.
He played several crucial knocks in the middle order to help KKR win games this season but still couldn't make the cut for West Indies.
And fans expressed their displeasure of Rinku's non selection on social media. Another notable ommission from the squad is that of Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was the seventh highest scorer in IPL 2023 with 590 runs at 42.14.
Even former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan sympathised with Rinku Singh after his non-selection.
Former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar was named the chairman of the BCCI senior men's selection committee on Tuesday.
The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), consisting of Sulakshana Naik, Ashok Malhotra, and Jatin Paranjape, unanimously recommended Agarkar for the said position.
The selection committee also includes Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola, Sridharan Sharath.
