Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was dropped from India’s T20I squad for the Sri Lanka tour. Gaikwad who batted out of his position and scored 133 runs from three innings against Zimbabwe in the five-T20I series did not find his name in the side. Many criticised the selectors’ decision to drop Gaikwad. In the press conference before leaving for Sri Lanka, chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained why a few players did not make into the squad with newly-appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir seated beside him. During the press conference, CSK posted a photo of Gaikwad with a cryptic caption.
CSK’s post with Gaikwad’s photo in the nets read: “All we see is a lion's walk!”
Badrinath's outburst
Former CSK batter Subramanian Badrinath took was not happy with Gaikwad getting ignored. In a rare outburst he said a cricketer needs to have a bad guy image to make it into the team.
“Sometimes it seems like you need a bad guy image when the likes of Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and others are not selected for the Indian team. It seems that you need to be in a relationship with some Bollywood actresses, have a good media manager, and have body tattoos,” Badrinath said on his YouTube show, Cric Debate With Badri and was quoted as saying my MyKhel Tamil.
Gaikwad’s performance on Zimbabwe tour
Under Shubman Gill's captaincy on Zimbabwe tour, he scored an unbeaten 77 off 47 balls at no.3 in the second T20I. He shared a 137-run partnership for the second wicket. Later, he shared an unbeaten 87-run stand with Rinku Singh and helped India post a gigantic score of 234/2.
In the third T20I, he batted at no.4 and scored 49 runs from 28 balls. He did not get a chance to bat in the fourth T20I as Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal chased down the total. In the fifth and final T20I of the game, he did not play.
India’s T20I squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ꮪhubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj.
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