Why did Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rinku Singh fail to make it to India’s T20I squad for West Indies tour?

After the appointment of a new chief selector, India announced their squad for the upcoming West Indies tour. For the five T20I series, selectors have picked up a 15-member squad. The team has picked many young players, while seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been left out of the squad.

However, players like Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Jitesh Sharma failed to make it into the squad. Despite having a great time in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2023, these players failed to impress team management and selectors. There have been plenty of reasons that went against the selection of these players.

Firstly, speaking about Kolkata Knight Riders superstar Rinku Singh, it has been shocking to not find his name on the list. However, it has to be understood that this is the first time Rinku has performed exceptionally. Selectors might be looking for someone who has been scoring runs in the last two seasons, including the domestic circuit. This is the criteria by which Rinku has been surpassed by Tilak Verma. Verma has been phenomenal for the Mumbai Indians in the last two seasons. He also piled up a lot of runs for Hyderabad in domestics.

Why did Jitesh Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad miss the flight?

It’s pretty obvious that India has a list of Wicketkeeper-batters who are being considered for the upcoming ODI and T20I World Cups. Rishabh Pant would have led this list, but unfortunately, he is running out of cricket. Among other players, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson are the top two picks for India in the limited-overs formats. This is the reason that forces selectors to overlook Jitesh Sharma. He could get a chance on India’s Ireland tour and Asian Games team when India’s main team faces Australia.

The exclusion of Ruturaj Gaikwad from the T20I squad was the bigger surprise. The Maharashtra right-hander has spent the last few years in the T20 setup, and he was the second-highest run-scorer for IPL 2023 Champions Chennai Super Kings.

This could be due to one of two factors. For starters, once the selectors settled on Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Ishan Kishan as the openers, there was no room on the roster for a fourth opener. The second explanation is very similar to Rinku’s. Ruturaj is a member of the West Indies Test and ODI squads, which means he could be considered for the Ireland tour as well as the Asian Games, just like Rinku Singh.