Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad shared his surprise at Rinku Singh’s absence from India’s T20 World Cup squad, which was announced earlier in the week. Singh was not named in the main squad but found his name in the reserves player’s list along with Avesh Khan, Shubman Gill, and Khaleel Ahmed.

Meanwhile, Rinku Singh has scored 123 runs in eight innings off 82 balls at an average of 20.50 and a strike rate of 150 in the ongoing season of the IPL. Rinku Singh scored 474 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2023 at an average of 59.23 and a strike rate of 149.53 and he was one of the biggest positives for KKR. The southpaw also scored four fifties in the season for KKR.

Singh has done a fine job for the Indian team as he has scored 356 runs in 11 T20I innings at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.24 and thus his absence was a bolt from the blue for a lot of cricket boffins.

“I feel all three Rinku, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill were very close to getting selected,” Prasad told RevSports.

“Having said that, the selectors did a good job. They were very clear that in the Caribbean and the USA, the wickets will assist the spinners during the latter part of the summer. I think that is the only reason for going for an extra spinner, Axar. That is the reason Rinku had to miss out.

“See if you look at the players who fit in the role as finishers, I think there is no one better than Rinku now in India. I also feel it is a little unfortunate and hard to digest the fact Rinku has been ignored,” he added.

Prasad feels it will be prudent if Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma opens the innings for India in the T20I showpiece.

“For me, Rohit (Sharma) and Yashasvi (Jaiswal) should open the batting for India. The reason I see the youngster opening the batting is a left-hand and right-hand combination. Virat will go in at No. 3 and Surya at No. 4 followed by Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja along with Shivam Dube,” he added.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5th.