Harbhajan Singh displeased over exclusion of Rahul Tripathi after BCCI announce the team squad for the upcoming series against South Africa.
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Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw are amongst the few expected names who have failed to make it to the 18-member team India squad for the upcoming five-match T20 series versus South Africa, slated to commence from June 9 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Additionally, in line with unofficial reports, the experienced players in Virat Kohli, present all-format skipper Rohit Sharma, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah too, have been rested for the imminent series, which would be team India’s first international assignment post IPL 2022.
The development has meant that wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul would be the one leading team India, with Rishabh Pant elected as his deputy.
As far as the new additions are concerned, Jammu and Kashmir pacer Umran Malik, Punjab’s Arshdeep Singh, the spinner duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, and the experienced wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik have been rewarded for their performances in the ongoing IPL season.
Harbhajan Singh displeased over exclusion of Rahul Tripathi
Former team India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has, post the announcement of the squad, expressed his disappointment over Rahul Tripathi’s exclusion from the same.
Disappointed to not see Rahul Tripathi’s name in the squad. He deserved a chance.
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) May 22, 2022
Tripathi, 31, is the second-highest run-scorer for his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) this season, having smashed a couple of half-centuries and some vital 30+ scores, at an average of 40.70.
Fans and experts across the social media platforms have been consistently making a case for the 31-year-old, as an apt candidate deserving to be handed a maiden India call-up.
After an impressive IPL debut for the now defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017, Tripathi made some vital contributions for KKR in the previous season as well.
Despite BCCI having picked second-string sides in the absence of their senior players in the recent past, the right-handed Tripathi has perhaps been unlucky for not earning a place in the national side as yet.
Team India T20I Squad – KL Rahul (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
