T20 World Cup 2024: The curious case of Rinku Singh

Ahead of the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League, Rinku Singh was one of the favourites to feature in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup. He was even called to Dharamshala during India’s fifth Test against England for the official T20 World Cup photoshoot.

However, with grim reality in attendance, in just over a month’s time, Rinku finds himself out of the 15-member squad that is slated to travel to the USA and West Indies for the mega tournament - a competition that India have not won in 17 years. 

So, what exactly changed in the last 40 days? Kolkata Knight Riders’ top order has been fantastic in IPL 2024, giving little room for the finishers to execute their match simulation practice in games when the chips are down. 

Rinku’s services were mostly not required and in the limited opportunities that he got, the 26-year-old could not live up to the heavy expectations. That can be the only logical reason to not pick Rinku from the T20 World Cup squad but how important is the IPL? Why are other players not judged on similar grounds? 

T20 cricket has changed significantly in the last few years. The batting spectrum has gone beyond one's imagination. 200s have become the new 160s and 250s have become an absolute cakewalk with surfaces becoming batters’ best friend. 

On top of that, India have named Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja as their finishers - ones who are not in good form either. The likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made the cut for their experience, which is understandable to a certain extent, but keeping both Jadeja and Axar Patel in the mix makes little to no sense. 

Also Read - India Squad for T20 World Cup 2024

T20 cricket has taken a new flight and landed in cities like audacity, innovation, and fearlessness. England, South Africa and Australia have adopted the philosophy and the results speak for themselves. 

India too, giving it a thought, exercised the same in bilaterals and also to an extent in the ODI World Cup, but interestingly, have thrown it out of the window this time around. 

The Men in Blue’s middle order has been a perennial headache. Rinku’s ability to accelerate and anchor could have been invaluable to the side. Instead, the Rohit Sharma-led side relies on tried-and-tested names, hoping they will fire. 

They have tried the likes of Jadeja and Pandya in the past and the two have failed to live up to the billing as far as T20 cricket is concerned. Ideally, young blood should have taken over, but India, like always are conservative while trying to push the big names outside - showing a little bit of love. But as they say, with love comes loss - and India have not won an ICC event for over a decade.

Now, there’s a belief that Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube’s inclusion played a role in Rinku’s elimination from the T20 side. However, the inaugural T20 champions would have anyway selected two keepers and given the form Sanju is in and the pedigree he has, the Keralite was an obvious choice. 

The same can be said about Dube. He is currently one of the best players of spin and his ticket to the World Cup is not much of a surprise. But, Rinku, who was India’s constant finisher in the last 8-10 months, should have been there irrespective of Dube and Samson’s slots. 

It sure must be heartbreaking for Rinku to miss out on the T20 World Cup squad despite giving his best for the national colours but sport is such. You could turn up and light up stadiums all around the globe and still be told, you're just not good enough. 

What is fair isn’t always in sports, as well as in life, and not everything depends on one big entity. BCCI keeps making such decisions and it needs to be seen if the board was correct on this one. Is it worth risking a finisher just to accommodate a like-to-like for an all-rounder?

They have not been in the longest time but like always, the fans are hopeful but also surprised with Rinku’s exclusion. Does it make sense at all, especially when he averages 89 and has a strike rate of 176.23 in T20I cricket? We wait for time to be kind enough to give away an answer to such a curious case of Rinku Singh.