‘Toughest decisions’, selector says about omission of Gill and Rinku

|| CF DESK ||

The Indian cricket team announced its 15-member squad and four travelling reserves for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 this week, with some notable omissions that stirred discussion.

Captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar held a press conference to shed light on the decisions behind the final squad.

While most of the squad selections were expected, the absence of Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh raised eyebrows.

Agarkar explained that these omissions were among the "toughest decisions" made by the selectors, emphasizing that neither player had done "anything wrong." He clarified that the choice was based on the specific team combinations the selectors were aiming for.

These exclusions illustrate the depth of talent within the Indian cricket scene, where even high-performing players sometimes find themselves on the outside due to strategic considerations.

The team management and selectors are aiming to strike the right balance to compete effectively at the T20 World Cup, which is likely why these difficult calls were made.

"It [Rinku Singh's omission from the first 15] is probably the toughest thing we have had to discuss," Agarkar said.

"He has done nothing wrong, not even Shubman Gill for that matter. It’s about combinations. There are a couple of wrist spinners included to give Rohit more options. It’s just unfortunate. He's in the reserves, so that tells you how close he came to being in the 15.

"But at the end of the day you can only pick 15 players in the squad."

The addition of the two wrist spinners — Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav — means that India have four spinners in their squad of 15, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel being the others.

Rohit didn't go into the details behind the decision but revealed that India playing morning games in the tournament was a factor behind it.

"I don’t want to go into too much detail because I am sure opposition captains will listen to this," he said. "I wanted more spinners, we know what the conditions are like. Matches start at 10-10.30 in the morning. There's a technical aspect involved in this.

"I wanted four spinners and three seamers and with Hardik being there you get the balance. With two spinners being all-rounders, then two attacking spinners give you balance in the spin department as well. Based on opposition composition we can decide who we want to play with."