“Balance of team not perfect,” says Bhogle of Rinku Singh’s exclusion

Rinku Singh amassed 474 runs in 14 matches at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

New Delhi: The Board Of Cricket Control Of India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the T20 squad for the upcoming 5-match West Indies series, with Mumbai batsman Tilak Varma getting his first call-up in the Indian team. According to renowned anchor Harsha Bhogle, there was a direct confrontation between Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma and the selectors opted to go with Tilak as he has been in impressive form for Rohit Sharma in his last two Indian Premier League seasons (IPL)- led Mumbai Indians (MI).

Like Rinku, Verma is also a left-handed hitter and scored 343 runs in 11 games with a batting frequency of 164.11 and an average of 42.87. in the IPL 2023, while Rinku was also on fire, with 474 runs in 14 matches at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Harsha Bhogle gives his opinion on the India T20I for the West Indies tour.#HardikPandya #RahulDravid pic.twitter.com/V4HtYXagPf

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) July 6, 2023

Harsha Bhogle also questioned the exclusion of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Ruturaj Gaikwad. “Little hard for Gaikwad and Rinku Singh. I think the moment they, understandably, settled on Jaiswal & Gill and wanted Ishan as a goalkeeper, there was no room for Gaikwad. With Rinku, it was a straight line between him and Tilak Varma. Very difficult choice to make. Sometimes you narrow your offer if you get slotted as a finisher. But Rinku is there, at the door,” Bhogle tweeted.

“My main concern is the bowling. No one except Axar is hitting and given that no batter is bowling other than Hardik, the balance of this team is not perfect. Since Axar has to play, it can become difficult to get both Kuldeep and Chahal in. In the West Indies I would prefer both and playing Arshdeep and Avesh/Mukesh with Hardik sharing the new ball and contributing to the death,” he said.

India’s T20I Squad: Ishan Kishan (Week), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (Week), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar