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Rinku Singh being relegated to the reserves might be among the more surprising developments to have come from the announcement of India’s squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup on Tuesday. Rinku’s extraordinary form for Kolkata Knight Riders and then the Indian team over the past two years had led to him being compared to legendary former captain MS Dhoni in terms of his consistency as a finisher.
In the 15 T20Is that he has played, Rinku has scored 356 runs at a strike-rate of 176.23 and average of 89.00. The 26-year-old even showed in his last T20I that he is much more than just a lower-order slogger, helping rebuild a tottering Indian innings against Afghanistan after coming on in the fifth over in an unbeaten 190-run stand with captain Rohit. Rinku has also scored 123 runs in the 82 balls he has faced this season in the IPL at a strike-rate of 150.
One can’t argue against Shivam Dube’s inclusion though. The all-rounder, who plays as a batter for Chennai Super Kings, has smashed 350 runs this season in nine innings at a strike rate of 172.41 and average of 58.33. Dube has pretty much reinvented himself since joining CSK in the 2022 season. His bowling figures have gone down in the IPL, having bowled just 12 balls in 2022 and none in 2023 and 2024 thus far. However, Dube scored 289 runs at a strike rate of 156.22 in 2022 and 418 runs at a strike rate of 158.33 in CSK’s title-winning campaign in 2023. His inclusion in the eleven as a finisher is highly likely with Dube providing the additional option of being a fast bowler.
While KKR have benefitted whenever Rinku has walked out to bat, the fact that he has been substituted off through the Impact Player rule and has got to bat almost exclusively in the last five overs of innings may have contributed to his omission from the squad. In eight innings this season, Rinku has got to play just 82 balls. On the other hand, Dube has often been sent higher up the order and he has delivered by providing them impetus early in their innings. Dube has got to play 203 balls in nine games so far for CSK. That’s around 23 balls per game — 13 more than Rinku, which enabled him to muscle 26 sixes apart from 24 fours. Rinku, in his 82 balls, hit nine fours and six sixes.
According to PTI, Those who were privy to the selection meeting held in Ahmedabad on Tuesday unanimously agreed that Rinku became an easy omission for the panel because he couldn’t be fitted alongside Hardik Pandya and Dube in the same 15.
“No doubt, Rinku paid the price for the Impact Player Rule. He is plain and simple unlucky. Hardik might be in poor form but he is still India’s best seam bowling all-rounder and it would have been a risk dropping him considering he is the only one who has bowled,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
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