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Why was Rinku Singh dropped from India’s T20I team?: The India national cricket team has announced the squad for the upcoming three series in Ireland, England and the Asian Games. Shreyas Iyer is ready to captain the team in all three series. All three are going to be held under T20I format. He has replaced India’s T20 World Cup 2026 winning captain Suryakumar Yadav in this format.
Some names are missing from the team of T20 World Cup 2026. Apart from Sky, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Rinku Singh has been left out of the shortest format as his name is not in the three teams announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Ajit Agarkar and secretary Devjit Saikia on Saturday afternoon.
Lack of trust of selectors and team on Rinku Singh
Rinku was a part of the Men in Blue squad at the 2026 T20 World Cup and played a few games during the premier tournament before being dropped from the team mid-match due to the tragic demise of his father. After his return, he did not play a single game and was warming the bench.
The southpaw made his debut for the Men in Blue in 2023; However, he was not included in the main squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 and went as a traveling reserve. But since his debut, he has performed well for the Men in Blue and Rinku Singh has mainly played the role of a finisher.
mid ipl 2026 season
Rinku Singh, coming into the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, did not have a good start and made a comeback in the middle stages of the league, but his performance was not good. He scored the most runs for the Knights and played a vital role in the middle order despite poor early form.
In this IPL, he scored 295 runs with an average of 59.00 and strike rate of 148.99, but still could not qualify his team for the playoffs. The KKR vice-captain should have been in the Indian team considering his form in the national team and performances as a finisher in world cricket.
India wants all-round option in the middle order
However, in India, the talent for T20 cricket is huge, and the pool of cricketers is also huge; Cricketers need to perform consistently and with a good strike rate. Rinku Singh has scored 665 runs with an average of 39.1 and strike rate of 155.7, but it is not enough to get selected.
Another big setback for Rinku Singh is that he is not a middle-order all-rounder because he cannot bowl. India has been looking for all-rounders in the middle order, be it spin or fast bowling. This has been another reason why Rinku Singh has often been overlooked in the shorter formats of the game.
Also read: Ajit Agarkar issues official statement on Virat Kohli’s return
