Twitter gutted over KL Rahul and Dinesh Karthik's omission from the first T20I versus Ireland

The Indian cricket team is currently playing the first T20I versus Ireland at the Malahide Cricket Ground in Dublin. With short boundaries and a well-knitted pitch, an exciting match is expected to unfold. The sun was also beating down and conditions were ideal for a delightful contest between bat and ball. Gary Wilson and Ireland won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, also wanted to bowl, but that didn’t happen. Prior to the match, the predicted XI of the Men in Blue was churned out. Dinesh Karthik or KL Rahul was expected to make the eleven owing to their stupendous form in recent times. However, none of them was drafted into the playing eleven and the decision furrowed quite a few eyebrows.

The surprise selections

Rahul was in the form of life during the Indian Premier League, playing for the Kings XI Punjab. The right-hander struggled to stay put in his position in limited-overs cricket but made a serious case for himself with some breezy knocks at the top of the order in the T20 tournament. He was subsequently included into the T20I squad for the ongoing series versus the Irishmen.

On the other hand, Dinesh Karthik’s form has been jaw-dropping as well. His match-winning knock in the Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh made him an overnight star. His onslaught in the dying stages of the match has turned out to be an indelible memory of Indian cricket. He carried over his touch in the IPL and turned out to be Kolkata Knight Riders’ fulcrum.

He also managed to retain his position in the national team. It’s a bit of a surprise that they weren’t considered and Manish Pandey was preferred instead. Twitter wasn’t happy with the team selectors and they lashed out at them for not including the cricketers in the lineup.

Here is how Twitter reacted: