Ambati Rayudu Disappointed by Rinku Singh's Exclusion from India's 15-member Squad for T20 World Cup: 'Cricketing Ability Should Come Before Likability on Instagram'

Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu has voiced his discontent over Rinku Singh’s exclusion from India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad, as the batter has been listed among the reserves instead.

Rayudu claimed that apart from Ravindra Jadeja, India didn’t have a reliable finisher and that Rinku had to be a part of the squad.

India Squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice Captain), 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

Complete List of T20 World Cup 2024 Squads

In a social media post, the 38-year-old questioned whether any of the chosen players have consistently showcased the capacity to bat aggressively with a notable strike rate during the pivotal 16th and 17th overs in T20 cricket throughout the last two years.

“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,” he wrote in an ‘X’ post.

Rinku has played 15 T20Is having scored 356 runs with the highest score of 69 at a strike rate of 176.24 and av average of 89.0.

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“There was a lot of debate over Hardik’s place in the squad while Samson was not debated much. Rinku was just unlucky. It was a toss-up between Dube and Rinku with Hardik also in the squad,” a BCCI source told PTI.

“No doubt, Rinku paid the price for the Impact Player Rule. He is plain and simple unlucky. Hardik might be in poor form but he is still India’s best seam bowling all-rounder and it would have been a risk dropping him considering he is the only one who has bowled,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

(With inputs from Agencies)