Saurabh Somani, Jarrod Kimber
Selections are tricky things at the best of times. Selectors speak of “happy headaches” when they have to prune squad lists from several deserving candidates, but it can be more headache than happy.
Rinku Singh, for one, would have definitely not felt any glimmer of happiness at missing out on India’s T20I squad for the World Cup in June 2024. Rinku has done everything and more that can be expected from anyone batting in the most volatile position (No.6) of the most volatile format. He has 356 runs in 15 T20Is, at 89 and 176, which are frankly unreal numbers. He is hard to dismiss, and is scoring at closer to 11 runs per over while doing that. It’s a small sample size, but sample sizes are small for those who bat at six by necessity almost. In the ongoing IPL 2024, Rinku’s batting time has been the primary casualty of Kolkata Knight Riders’ fabulous top-order form. He’s faced only 82 balls in eight innings, batting majorly at No.6 and No.7. He’s still managed a strike rate of 150.
By almost any reckoning, he had done enough to not just be in the squad, but in India’s first-choice playing XI. Instead, he’s only a travelling reserve, and not in the final 15.
“It’s probably the toughest thing we’ve had to discuss frankly,” said Ajit Agarkar, India’s chief selector, in a press conference on May 2. “He’s done nothing wrong… we’re not quite sure about what conditions we’ll get, so we wanted to try and have enough options. It’s just unfortunate. I don’t think it’s anything to do with Rinku Singh. It’s not his fault that he’s missed out.”
In India’s squad of 15, the number of spots that were up for grabs were anyway limited. The top-order of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav were set in stone. The team would need at least two keepers. That’s six spots out of 15 already sealed. Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav were also automatic picks. Any squad needs at least three seamers, so that was ten spots.
There was also little doubt that Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja would be included, given their all-round skills. Agarkar in fact said that his selection panel didn’t even have a discussion on whether Hardik would remain vice-captain – it was a foregone conclusion. The selectors therefore, weren’t too fussed with Hardik’s indifferent form in IPL 2024.
Further, Rohit revealed that he was set on taking four spinners for the World Cup, because of the conditions the team management expects to encounter in the Caribbean and the US. India’s group stage games all start in the morning, at 10.00am or 10.30am local time (to accommodate prime time viewership on Indian television). The same timings will hold for India’s Super8s games too.
“I definitely wanted four spinners. With morning starts at 10-10.30am, there’s a little bit of technical aspect involved in this,” Rohit said, while explaining that the exact reasons would have to be revealed later, since he didn’t want to give too much away to opposition captains.
[Insert image of Rinku Singh in KKR colours]
Agarkar said that the team was already bound to have at least one high-quality batter sitting out with two keepers in Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant. Therefore, the extra bowling option made more sense from a combinations point of view. “It’s more the 15 that we felt gives (options)… with two keepers who are terrific batters, there’s already an extra batter sitting out, whoever doesn’t play (among the two). So we just thought to have another bowling option might be handy, going forward in the tournament.”
That left only one spot in the squad of 15, and that was taken by Shivam Dube, who would have been in the same boat as Rinku if he had not been picked – a player who has done everything right but is not in the final 15. Dube’s ability to take down spinners in the middle overs was the clinching factor. Rinku’s strength lies more in hitting pace, which is why he’s been so effective at the death. Rohit said the team needed someone who could get on with it in the middle phase.
“The one thing we really looked at was middle-overs hitting,” Rohit said. “The top-order hitting has been alright, hasn’t been bad, but there are options there as well. In the middle overs, we wanted someone to come and play that role where he can play freely without worrying about who is bowling and who is not. We picked Shivam Dube based on the IPL and a few games before the IPL as well.”
Essentially, to pick Rinku, the selectors would have needed to either take one spinner fewer – which Rohit was categorically unwilling to do because he believes spin will play a key role for India – or to give greater weightage to recent form and get Rinku in ahead of someone like Hardik. However, that was also not a realistic option. As Agarkar put it, “I don’t think there is a replacement for the things that he (Hardik) can do as a cricketer, at the moment.” A fit and firing Hardik gives the team a viable batting and seam bowling option, which no other cricketer does.
The casualty of this combination of factors was Rinku Singh.
India’s T20 World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
