Indian fans seem to be angry after another controversial team selection by BCCI. The BCCI has dropped centurion Ruturaj Gaikwad from his final List A match for the New Zealand ODI series and has also ignored his stellar performance in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The BCCI India Men’s Selection Committee, headed by former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar, finds itself under the radar once again for ignoring batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad from the 15-man squad for the upcoming three-match series against New Zealand.
Gaikwad played the last ODI series for India against South Africa at home and scored a brilliant century in just his second match. He did not get a chance to bat in the last match of the series; However, after the series he was considered an ideal replacement for any middle-order batsman.
Why has Ruturaj Gaikwad been dropped from the Indian team?
Despite his incomparable skill and quality in the domestic tournaments, the Maharashtra batsman has been struggling to make a place in the Indian team for a long time. The world saw Gaikwad’s dedication when he played for India in the South Africa series.
However, Gaikwad was brought in as a replacement for the Indian team’s injured vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, who missed the South Africa home series. However, after recovering from his injury, he has been cleared by the BCCI COE and hence has found his way back into the team against New Zealand.
However, despite Iyer’s return, Gaikwad should have been given a backup spot in the team, as the Maharashtra batsman is in very good touch. In his last two home matches, he had scored 124 and 66 runs for Maharashtra. Today, he overtook Virat Kohli for the best List A average among Indian cricketers after playing 50+ innings.
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Ajit Agarkar, along with BCCI selector RP Singh, was watching the match between Maharashtra and Mumbai, which also featured players like Ruturaj Gaikwad as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal. Despite this, he chose to drop Gaikwad from the team.
Following the selections, Agarkar’s intentions behind naming Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad as a backup, despite Shubman Gill being fully fit and Rohit Sharma not being injured, have been questioned. Instead, Ruturaj Gaikwad will play a dual role as an opener and middle-order batsman, given that Shreyas Iyer’s participation is still in doubt.
Some have said that this is a strategy to promote the return of Rishabh Pant to the Indian playing XI in ODIs. Pant is the only batsman in the team who can be brought in place of Shreyas Iyer if Iyer is not fit to play any matches for India. With Gaikwad in the team, Gambhir would have chosen the CSK batsman as his first choice.
“Complete clown of the selection committee,” fans angry over Ruturaj Gaikwad’s sudden omission from ODI team
Ruturaj Gaikwad was dropped by BCCI even after scoring a century in his last ODI match.
serious politics won
Rituraj lost-Jayprakash MSDian (@ms_dhoni_077) 3 January 2026
Shreyas Iyer is not fully fit yet, yet he chose Shreyas so that he can drop Ruturaj Gaikwad, because he knows that if Shreyas does not recover on time then Gautam will prefer Ruturaj instead of Pant as he did last time, Agarkar is eliminating Pant’s rivals! Now Gambhir will have no option pic.twitter.com/CzO3OWVY03
(@5hivamCSK) 3 January 2026
Ruturaj Gaikwad was dropped
Not even Devdutt Padikkal
Nor did Shami get a comeback!Three players who performed consistently well in domestic cricket did not get the reward again.
– Cricket Lover // ICT Fan Account (@CricCrazyV) 3 January 2026
If Shreyas is under fitness
So why was the wrong done by Rituraj Gaikwad not removed??? BCCI fooled the selection committee– Mayank Wadhwa (@thalafanthala) 3 January 2026
Even if the backup has to be picked, Ruturaj Gaikwad is a better option than Yashasvi Jaiswal considering his versatility and recent form. pic.twitter.com/kTC2jUeB9D
-Abhay Singh (@AbhaySingh_13) 3 January 2026
Ruturaj Gaikwad: ODI century vs South Africa, highest average in List A among Indians, 124 and 66 in ongoing VHTs… but no place in ODI squad vs New Zealand. If there is no form then what is the criteria? @bcci #JusticeForRuturaj #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/RYBbcCXJIQ
– Vivek (@ivkev2006s) 3 January 2026
No place for Ruturaj Gaikwad in ODI against New Zealand.
What did the selectors want from him ???
Despite his excellent performance in the last series and Vijay Harare Trophy, he has been dropped from the team!!
Inappropriate ! pic.twitter.com/ quX44BgGc2
– Dhohar (@dhohar_07) 3 January 2026
And Ruturaj Gaikwad faced the axe. Complete clown of the selection committee. https://t.co/KV6JExYdAM
– Arunav Das (@Nomad_D07) 3 January 2026
Also read: Ruturaj Gaikwad broke Virat Kohli’s all-time record, became India’s number 1 List A batsman.
