3 players who were unlucky to miss out on the T20I squad for SA series

The Indian Cricket Board announced the squad for the upcoming 5-match T20 series against South Africa at home on Sunday. Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been rested for the series. KL Rahul will be in charge in the absence of Rohit Sharma, while Rishabh Pant will assume the vice-captaincy duties.

Advertisment

Mainstays such as Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to name a few are part of the squad. However, the board has made some other notable inclusions as well. Young fast bowlers such as Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have been handed their maiden call-ups.

Add to that, Dinesh Karthik has returned to the T20 squad, following his impressive performances for Bangalore in the ongoing edition of the Indian T20 League. Left-arm wrist-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav has also been selected in the squad. He will share the spin duties with Yuzvendra Chahal in the series.

As for the all-rounders, both Hardik Pandya and Venkatesh Iyer are part of the squad. Amidst all that, there are some players who, perhaps, deserved to be in the squad but didn’t find a place. Here's a look at 3 players who should have been part of the squad but aren’t.

Advertisment

3 players who were unlucky to miss out on the T20I squad for SA series

1. Rahul Tripathi  

                                                 Rahul Tripathi: (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)

Advertisment

There is no denying the fact that Rahul Tripathi has been one of the most prolific run-getters in the Indian T20 League. He had a stellar season with the bat for Kolkata last year and was equally brilliant this season as well for Hyderabad. Tripathi consistently provided quick-fire starts and also exhibited his ability to convert those starts into big scores.

He played numerous valuable knocks for the franchise and played a key role in the team’s victories. He is currently the highest run-scorer for Hyderabad this season. In 13 matches, he has scored 393 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 161.73. Despite that, Tripathi wasn’t selected for the T20 series against South Africa.

2. Sanju Samson

                                                    Sanju Samson: (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)

Under the leadership of Sanju Samson, Rajasthan have managed to qualify for the playoffs in the ongoing edition of the Indian T20 League. Rajasthan are currently sitting at the number two spot and Samson deserves of a lot of credit for taking brilliant decisions on the field.

Also, it is safe to say that the Samson is one of the cleanest hitters of the cricket ball. Time and again, he has shown his ability to effortlessly hit sixes and fours and change the game in a matter of few overs. In the absence of Virat Kohli, he could be a perfect bet to bat at number three in the batting line-up. However, once again, the selectors ignored the talented cricketer by not including him in the squad.

3. Shikhar Dhawan

                                                   Shikhar Dhawan: (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)

Shikhar Dhawan hasn’t been in India’s scheme of things for a long time now. However, he has been consistently piling on runs for different franchises in the Indian T20 League for the last few years now.

Despite being at the wrong side of the 30s, he has shown that he still has the ability to perform against the best bowling attacks in the world. Dhawan looked consistent this year as well for Punjab but, unfortunately, couldn’t make an impact in his last few games.