IND vs SA: With the conclusion of the IPL 2022, Team India will resume their preparation for the T20 World Cup. First, they are hosting South Africa for a 5-T20I series starting June 9 in Delhi.
India squad for IND vs SA:
KL Rahul (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain, wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
The selectors have rested Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami (all four are part of the Test side to take on England) while Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja will miss the series due to injuries. In their absence, other players will be aiming to make a strong claim for the World Cup squad.
On the other hand, a few cricketers would feel hard done after their exclusion from the South Africa series despite putting up impactful, consistent performances in the IPL 2022.
Here are three deserving Indian players who missed out from the IND vs SA T20I series:
Rahul Tripathi
It had felt that Rahul Tripathi will finally break into India’s squad for the IND vs SA series following his thrilling IPL 2022 campaign for SRH – batting at number 3, Tripathi amassed 413 runs at a strike rate of 158.
However, despite a terrific season with the bat – where he was perhaps the best batsman in the middle-overs in the tournament – Tripathi missed out on selection for the national side. Tripathi’s exclusion was met with severe criticism by the fans as everyone had been championing his inclusion in the national team given his middle-overs exploits and intentful, selfless batting.
Shikhar Dhawan
It seems like the selectors and team management have made up their mind: to look past Shikhar Dhawan in the T20I team no matter what. No matter that Dhawan had another prolific season with the bat – scoring 460 runs for Punjab Kings. No matter that for the 7th consecutive season, Dhawan has aggregated more than 400 runs in the IPL!
The management is keen on backing Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad – who weren’t consistent this season – as backup openers but does not recall Dhawan despite his form and experience.
T Natarajan
Although T Natarajan‘s fitness has been under an uncertain cloud since returning from the heroic Australia tour early last year, in the IPL 2022, the SRH seamer looked fit and delivered on his reputation – taking 18 wickets in the 11 matches he played though going for a slightly expensive economy. Natarajan’s experience of bowling in Australia and his ability to hit the yorker seems a factor ignored by the selectors, for now.
