At a time when the whole nation is celebrating Umran Malik’s maiden India call-up for the five-match T20 series against South Africa, several including former India skipper Harbhajan Singh are disappointed not to see his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Rahul Tripathi’s name on the list.
The BCCI announced on Sunday announced the 18-member squad for the white-ball series against the Proteas starting next month. Apart from Umran, Punjab Kings’ Arshdeep Singh is the other pacer to have received a national team call-up for the first time.
If there was one player, who would feel a bit let-down, it has to be Rahul Tripathi. The right-hander has been one of the backbones of the SRH batting line-up in the ongoing IPL 2022 having scored 400-plus runs for the franchise with three fifty-plus scores.
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Tripathi scored an 18-ball 20 against Punjab Kings on Sunday and finished his IPL 2022 campaign with 413 runs -- only second on the list of most run-getters for SRH in the season. Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh felt Tripathi deserved a chance in the Indian side to be led by KL Rahul.
“Disappointed to not see Rahul Tripathi’s name in the squad. He deserved a chance,” Harbhajan wrote on Twitter. Not only Harbhajan but former West Indies great Ian Bishop too had voiced for young Tripathi who has been consistent in the IPL over the years.
“Rahul Tripathi for International cricket,,,,,,it’s time!,,,,” Bishop, currently one of the commentators in the ongoing IPL 2022 had tweeted on May 17. With Suryakumar Yadav left out due to a hand injury, it was expected Tripathi would make the cut.
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Meanwhile, another notable absentee in that India squad is Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson. Under Samson’s captaincy, RR finished the round-robin stage second spot in IPL 2022 points table and are going to face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Like Tripathi, Samson too stands second on Rajasthan Royals’ list of most run-getters this season. in 14 matches so far, Samson has scored 374 runs with two fifty-plus scores to his name. With two wicketkeepers – Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik – already in the squad, the selectors may have decided to focus on other areas thereby omitting Samson, who also is a keeper.
Samson has so far played 13 T20s for India with just 174 runs in his kitty. The India vs South Africa series starts on June 9 in Delhi. The remaining four games will be played in Cuttack (June 12), Visakhapatnam (June 14), Rajkot (June 17) and Bengaluru (June 19).
India's T20 Squad vs South Africa
KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.4
