The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Ajit Agarkar opened up on the exclusion of Rinku Singh from the India squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 during the press conference at the board's headquarters in Mumbai on Thursday, May 2.
The BCCI on Tuesday announced the 15-member squad for the showpiece event, slated to take place in the West Indies and the USA on June 1st. Apart from star players, Shivam Dube, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav and few others have made it to the squad for the tournament.
However, Rinku Singh's name was missing in the squad. Though, the KKR star batter was included in the travelling reserves but only will be included in the squad if any player gets injured or ruled out of the tournament.
'It's unfortunate that he missed out': Agarkar on Rinku Singh
Speaking at the press conference, Ajit Agarkar said that Rinku Singh has done nothing wrong as they could select only 15 players in the squad for the T20 World Cup. The chief selector added that the team wanted to have couple of spinners in the squad and thus, it was unfortunate that Rinku missed out.
"It was tough decision. Rinku Singh has done nothing wrong nor Shubman Gill for that matter. we wanted to have enough options. A couple of spinners were included in the squad. It's just unfortunate." Agarkar said.
"I don't think it has anything to do with Rinku Singh. It is not his fault that he has missed out. At the end of the day, you can only select 15. He is in the reserves so that's how close he was." he added.
Apart from Rinku, Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed will travel with the main squad as reserve players for the T20 World Cup 2024. The Kolkata Knight Riders' star batter exclusion was one of the talking points. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan rallied behind Rinku Singh, stating that he should have been in the squad given his recent performances.
"I think Rinku Singh’s recent past performance for Team India shouldn’t have been ignored." wrote on X.
Rinku Singh made his international debut for Team India in a T20I match against Ireland in August 2023. In T20I, Rinku has scored 356 runs, including two fifties, at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.23 in 15 matches.
