Former South African pacer Dale Steyn believes that Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Rahul Tripathi should be a part of India’s T20I team after his successful performances in the latest edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Currently the bowling coach for SRH, Steyn has done an excellent job mentoring the team’s pacers, particularly Jammu & Kashmir’s Umran Malik, who has dominated the league with his 150-plus kmph balls.
Dale Steyn shared his disappointment at not seeing Tripathi feature for India till now and spoke about the same in an interview with Sportskeeda. “I reckon Rahul has a good chance to make India’s T20I selection. The IPL is a framework that permits players to compete so well that individuals from that pool are selected for the Indian national squad. Surprisingly, he hasn’t yet been given a chance in the Indian team,” Steyn said.
Steyn was all praise for Tripathi, praising his professionalism and maturity, “Given that the spot he bats at [no. 3] in the Indian squad is filled by Virat Kohli, it’ll be challenging to get that spot.” But, based on how he’s now playing and how he’s performed in the past, he’s matured. He raises his fist and slams the door shut as hard as he can.”
Tripathi has been in excellent form this season, scoring 228 runs at a strike rate of 174.04 and an average of 45.60. With the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup going to take place later in the year, Tripathi will need to keep up his strong form in the upcoming IPL matches if he wants to make India’s T20 team for the upcoming series against South Africa.
