T20 WC: Unfortunate, Not His Fault – Agarkar Explains Why Rinku Wasn’t Picked

T20 World Cup: Ajit Agarkar explained why Rinku Singh was not selected in India's squad, calling it 'unfortunate.'

Speaking to the media from the headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Mumbai, Ajit Agarkar – chairman of the Senior Men’s Selection Committee – explained why Rinku Singh was not selected in India’s squad for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, despite having performed well for the national team.

Notably, a section of the Indian team’s fanbase was left perplexed following the announcement of the squad on 30 April, owing to Rinku Singh’s absence from the squad. Having made his debut for the team after an excellent Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign in 2023, Rinku has represented India in 15 T20I matches, wherein he has scored 356 runs at an average of 89 and a staggering strike rate of 176.23. He was also the leading run-scorer in India’s last T20I fixture, against Afghanistan in January.

However, for the T20 World Cup, Rinku has only been named as a travelling reserve. Explaining the decision, Agarkar stated Rinku’s omission was only owing to team combination as they wanted to select four spinners, calling the decision ‘unfortunate’ for the 26-year-old batter from Uttar Pradesh.

It is (not selecting Rinku Singh) probably the toughest thing we have had to discuss. He has done nothing wrong, not even Shubman Gill for that matter. It is about combinations. We included a couple of wrist spinners to give Rohit more options. It is unfortunate that Rinku has missed out. He is in the reserves, so that tells you how close he came to being in the squad. But at the end of the day, you can only pick 15 players in the squad.

Ajit Agarkar

I Definitely Wanted Four Spinners: Rohit Sharma

Skipper Rohit Sharma did not offer his opinion on Rinku’s absence from the squad, however, he did confirm his insistence on selecting four spinners to travel to the United States of America and the West Indies.

I definitely wanted four spinners in the team. We have played a lot of cricket in the West Indies, we know about the conditions there. Matches will start at 10-10:30 in the morning. I don’t want to go into much detail because I am sure all the other teams’ captains will be listening to this, but I can tell you there was a technical aspect involved in the decision.

Rohit Sharma