Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu expressed his sadness about Rinku Singh not being chosen for India’s T20 World Cup 2024 team, even though Rinku has been great at finishing games. Rinku has played only 15 T20 matches for India but has an amazing average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.23, making him a reliable player. Rayudu said besides Ravindra Jadeja, India didn’t have a good finisher, and Rinku should’ve been picked.

Ambati Rayudu shares his opinion on social media  

Ambati Rayudu went on X (formerly Twitter) and indirectly criticized the selectors for picking reputation over skill for the T20 World Cup squad.

Rinku Singh’s omission clearly indicates stats rule over cricketing sense.. who in this selected Indian has been walking out in the 16 th and 17 th over in a t20 game in the last 2 years and playing fluently with a high strike rate and can win a game except Ravindra Jadeja.. he…

— ATR (@RayuduAmbati) May 1, 2024

Rayudu knows how Rinku feels because Rayudu faced a similar situation when he was left out of the 2019 World Cup squad, which upset fans and raised questions.

MSK Prasad faced criticism as the chief selector of the Indian National Cricket Team, despite India’s success in reaching the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semi-finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup under his tenure. However, some decisions made by Prasad and his team puzzled both fans and experts. The most notable one was the exclusion of Ambati Rayudu from India’s 2019 World Cup squad.

Tom Moody shares the reason behind Rinku’s omission

Tom Moody, a former Australian cricketer, tried to explain why Rinku Singh wasn’t chosen. He said India wanted lots of all-rounders and good spinners in the team, so they had to choose between Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh.

Tom Moody added, “The way I see it, it had nothing to do with form, it had everything to do with the fact that Dube can bowl. If Rinku Singh could bowl, if both were identical cricketers, left-hand batters who could bowl part-time medium pace, he would be in that squad.”

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India still has time to change their final 15-player squad until May 25, according to ICC rules. It will be interesting to see if Rinku Singh can do something amazing in IPL 2024 to get into the team before the deadline.