Ajit Agarkar

In a press conference explaining Team India‘s selection for the World Cup, BCCI‘s chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that Rinku Singh was “the toughest thing to discuss…it was all about the combination we wanted.” The chief selector meant that the committee did its best but it couldn’t find Rinku a place considering the big picture. It also came to light that captain Rohit Sharma wanted four spinners for the squad which had reduced the options for the selectors.A day later, former India captain and ex-BCCI president Sourav Ganguly shared a similar view.What’s clear from these statements is that the 26-year-old batter from Aligarh wasn’t thought of as an automatic selection. Rather, he was at best considered as the last possible player for the 15-member squad, and later consigned to the reserves. Here’s why such a thought process is erroneous. India won the T20 World Cup for the first and last time in 2007, the year before IPL arrived. In the seven editions, thereafter, it has entered the final only once (2014) and semifinal twice (2016 & 2022). England, West Indies, even Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy better records than India. A key reason behind these failures is the team’s inability to produce its best cricket in high pressure knock-out games in the World Cup. Most players considered essential by the selectors are the same blokes who have been unable to perform time and again in these matches. That’s why India needed a Rinku-first policy. Here was a journeyman who emerged from the shadows to capture national spotlight delivering wins from near-impossible situations in IPL 2023 and, of late, in T20Is to become India’s elusive 911 man. On recent international performance and making a comparative assessment of his temperament in tough situations with other so-called ‘undroppables’, his selection should have been the easiest, not the “toughest” decision to make. How many proven – not on paper — finishers in T20Is, especially in tough situations, does this team’s lower batting order have?Let’s walk the talk with hard statistics. Rinku has played 15 T20Is, batted in 11 innings, remained unbeaten in 7. Barring a couple of games, he made invaluable contributions improving the team’s situation in each of them. His strike rate is 176; average 89. No surprise former internationals such as Kris Srikkanth, Irfan Pathan and Ambati Rayudu have also spoken up over his non-inclusion. His freewheeling undefeated 37 off 14 balls gave India the edge in a crucial Asian Games tie against Nepal. Nepal scored 179/9 in the game; India won by just 23 runs, and in retrospect, Rinku’s input was critical.Against Australia in Thiruvananthapuram last November, Rinku blitzkrieged an unbeaten 31 off 9 deliveries. The innings underlined that he could move into fifth gear at a moment’s notice. In the same series, he smashed 46 off 29 balls, the highest score in the team with the second highest run rate. India won that game too. Then again, last December against South Africa in faraway Gqeberha, his unconquered 68 off 39 balls was the side’s highest score with the highest strike rate.In Bengaluru this January, in his last international game against Afghanistan, Rinku was outstanding in a tough situation. Coming in to bat with India 22/4, he produced in tandem with Rohit Sharma an unbeaten game-changing partnership of 190. It is surprising that Rohit, who scored an unbeaten 121 (off 69) in that nerve-jangling game, couldn’t place him among 15.In all these knocks as well as in IPL 2023, Rinku’s batting displayed calm, power and situational awareness. He found a way to outwit bowlers, mould his shotmaking to the situation.If Rinku’s recent IPL form was a reason for his omission, what about several other selected players whose form seems to be getting worse with every passing game? That aside, there’s a lack of consistency in selection logic. If Dube, who averages nearly 40 and has a strike rate of 145 in T20Is, was rewarded for his superlative IPL show, why isn’t medium pacer T Natarajan even in the reserves. His current IPL stats — wickets, economy rate, strike rate – as well as ball control and ability to bowl at the death is superior to the chosen ones.Team India may or may not perform well at the forthcoming World Cup beginning in June. But irrespective of the result, the omission of Rinku Singh will remain a case of grave injustice.