Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath shared his surprise after Ruturaj Gaikwad was excluded from India’s T20I and ODI squad against Sri Lanka. Gaikwad scored 133 runs in three innings in a recently concluded five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe at an average of 66.50 and a strike rate of 158.33 and thus was in decent form.

The right-hander was also the second highest run-getter in IPL 2024 as he scored 583 runs in 14 matches at an average of 53 while leading Chennai Super Kings for the first time.

Badrinath, who also played for CSK, feels one needs to be in a relationship with some Bollywood actresses, have a good media manager, and have body tattoos to get into the Indian team.

“Sometimes it seems like you need a bad guy image when the likes of Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and others are not selected for the Indian team. It seems that you need to be in a relationship with some Bollywood actresses, have a good media manager, and have body tattoos,” Badrinath said on Cric Debate with Badri.

Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma, who scored a 47-ball 100 in the second T20I, will miss out on the flight to Sri Lanka. Sanju Samson, who scored 108 runs in his last ODI game against South Africa, could not make the cut in the ODI squad. 

The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka will be played in Pallekele on July 27.

T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.