IND vs SA T20: Star players repeatedly overlooked

The Indian squad for the T20 series against South Africa has been announced. Several names are missing from the team that could have been included. Players like Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj are among those whose names could have been considered.

IND vs SA T20: The South African team is currently on a tour of India. Following the ongoing ODI series, a five-match T20 series is scheduled to be played. India's 15-member squad for this series has been announced. The team will be captained by Suryakumar Yadav. Shubman Gill, who was ruled out of the ODI series due to injury, has also been included in the squad.

In recent times, several questions have been raised regarding the selection of the Indian team. Many deserving players are not getting opportunities, and the performance of several current players is also under scrutiny. Among such players are some who have been dropped from the team without any concrete reason and are now struggling to find a place back.

Questions over the Future of Pant, Jaiswal, and Ruturaj

Batsmen Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Ruturaj Gaikwad have not been included in the Indian squad. Jaiswal has scored 723 runs in 22 innings with a strike rate of 164.31 and an average of 36.15. Gaikwad, on the other hand, has scored 633 runs in 20 innings with a strike rate of 143.53 and an average of 39.56. Shubman Gill is being preferred over both these batsmen. Shubman Gill has not scored a single half-century in his last 15 innings. He has scored 837 runs in 33 T20 career innings at an average of 29.89. His strike rate is 140.43. Explosive batsman Rishabh Pant is also out of the T20 setup. Although his bat has been quiet in international T20s, we all know what he is capable of with the bat. All three batsmen, Pant, Jaiswal, and Ruturaj, played their last T20 in July 2024.

Shami and Siraj Not Finding a Place

Apart from the batsmen, there are also bowlers who are currently out of the team. Prominent among them are pacers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, whose T20 future is in question. Both bowlers can be effective with the new ball in the powerplay. Meanwhile, fast bowler Harshit Rana is being consistently given opportunities by the selectors and team management, despite his T20 performance declining after taking 3 wickets in the first match. His economy rate is also not satisfactory.

India's T20 Squad Against South Africa

Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (Wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, and Washington Sundar.