Rinku Singh in India colours (Source: AFP)
Rinku Singh has been a designated finisher of the Indian T20I side in most matches since 2023. However, with his consistency taking a hit in the last year or so, there have been question marks over his place in the side.
The Asia Cup 2025 is all set to start on September 30, and India's team for the marquee tournament is likely to be selected soon. There are plenty of options at the selectors' disposal, and plenty of quality players might miss the bus.
Rinku Singh Likely To Miss Out After Inconsistent Performances
One of them is likely to be Rinku Singh, according to Kushan Sarkar of Press Trust of India. The southpaw has been a designated finisher of the Indian T20I side in most matches since 2023. However, with his consistency taking a hit in the last year or so, there have been question marks over his place in the side.
Rinku Singh is also a pure batter, which is likely to go against him as the new management under Gambhir has been keen to include multi-dimensional players in white-ball formats. The left-handed batter's IPL performances have also been a bit below par in the last two seasons, which has brought his spot in T20Is under the scanner.
Former National Selector Highlights Intense Race For Spots In The T20I Side
The PTI report also states that India have Shivam Dube and Jitesh Sharma as finishers even if Rinku Singh gets dropped from the squad. The report also mentions comments from a former national selector who feels that it is difficult to fit in players from the outside when the players already in the team have done nothing wrong, especially in the top order.
"We often hear people saying, one should pick so and so but no one would be able to definitively tell us 'in place of whom'? Shreyas Iyer has 600 runs at a strike-rate of 180 but he bats in top four. Where is the place for him. Even as you include Shubman as he is flavour of the season, where do you cut corners," a former national selector told PTI.
The former national selector stated that one cannot disturb the top five, and so Rinku Singh's position can be compromised to include more in-form batters or multi-dimensional players.
"You can't disturb your top five right now and also pick Shubman. And if you pick Shubman now, obviously the Test captain and IPL team captain won't sit out. So where do you make the compromise? I only see Rinku's spot being iffy as he isn't required as much some of the top order batters. And mind it, we aren't even talking about Jaiswal."
Overall, Rinku Singh still has a great record in T20Is with an average of 42 and strike-rate of over 160. However, most of his breakthrough performances in Indian colours came in the early part of his career, and the batter could face the axe in the multi-nation tournament again, just like it happened in the T20 World Cup 2024.
