Rinku Singh averages 54 in FC cricket, and 47 in List A, and yet he has become, somewhat of a T20I specialist in Team India. In 31 matches he has played, he has scored 507 runs, at an average of 46 at a strike-rate of 165, including three fifties. Now, those are all excellent numbers, considering he bats between no. 5 to no. 7 positions mostly. But then, his place in the T20Is might also be in danger now, not on the basis of his performance albeit.
All-rounders Over Rinku Singh?
This has been a growing trend with head coach Gautam Gambhir, where he prefers to bat deep, with all-rounders, who give the team depth till around No. 8 or No. 9, and that is where Rinku Singh misses out. In the ongoing T20I series vs England, he played the first match in Kolkata, but then was declared injured due to a back spasm.
And two players, again all-rounders, were brought into the squad — Shivam Dube and Ramandeep Singh. At the top of the order there is Abhishek Sharma, who bowls as well, as has four T20I wickets to his name. Tilak Varma has been used sporadically in the shortest format too. Then of course, there is India’s best all-rounder in Hardik Pandya, followed by Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar. Initially, Nitish Kumar Reddy was also picked, who is also ruled out of the series, due to an injury.
India Has Many Replacements
So now, if this is the thinking of the management, how does a pure batter like Rinku Singh, fit in the setup? He doesn’t really, isn’t it. Or even if he does, he is very replaceable. Look at No.5 to No. 7 batter options that Team India have. They can slot in Washi there, who is an equally effective batter, and is an excellent bowler, with a excellent economy rate in the format.
Similar is the case with Axar Patel, Nitish Reddy, and Shivam Dube too. Whether or not, it is the right way to go in T20Is is a debate for later, but for Rinku, with a plethora of options for all-rounders, his spot might not be guaranteed.
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Indian squad for T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ramandeep Singh, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).
