Rinku, hang in there!

Rinku Singh (Pic: AFP)

Much to the dismay of fans, the exclusion of flamboyant all-rounder Rinku Singh, who captured the cricketing world's imagination with five sixes in an over during the previous IPL, made way for Shivam Dube in the main national squad for T20 World Cup while his name ended up being among the reserves. Dube got in thanks to more game time for Chennai Super Kings during the first 10 games of the league.

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.

Meanwhile, this is how the Internet reacted to his absence.

Call it sheer bad luck, but there really is more to it. As of now, The 26-year-old Aligarh left-hander only has IPL's Impact Player Rule to blame. How?

His IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders treated him as a finisher and naturally, he never got a chance to bat in the top five. In eight innings before selection, he played merely 82 balls, which is just about 10 balls per innings. The two Iyers, Venkatesh and skipper Shreyas, along with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who is anything but a power-hitter got a majority of the overs, leaving Rinku with very little to do in the end.

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In contrast, Chennai Super Kings and their shrewd tactician Mahendra Singh Dhoni have been making optimum use of Dube ever since he came in during the 2021 season. 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, didn't even get his fair share of batting on tracks where Raghuvanshi and the Iyers consumed more deliveries. His strike rate of 176 in 15 games for India till January 2024, which included two fifties, has not been enough to fetch him a spot in the main squad.

Just like Ambati Rayudu's exclusion was one of the most unfortunate decisions before the 2019 ODI World Cup, one can only hope that Rinku's omission from the main squad isn't a harakiri in the end. With Rinku being a part of the travelling reserves, he has a chance of getting into the 15 in case any of the first team members get injured.

Also, till May 23, selectors won't need any reason to change the squad if they feel it's necessary.

(With inputs from agencies)