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Why was Rinku Singh dropped from India's T20I squad?: The India National Cricket Team have announced the squad for the upcoming three series, in Ireland, England, and the Asian Games. Shreyas Iyer is set to lead the side in all three series. All three are going to be under the T20I format. He has replaced India’s T20 World Cup 2026 winning captain Suryakumar Yadav in the format.
Some names are missing from the T20 World Cup 2026 side. Apart from SKY Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Rinku Singh has been dropped from the shortest format as his name is not there across the three teams that have been announced on Saturday afternoon by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Ajit Agarkar and secretary Devajit Saikia.
Lack of trust from selectors and the team in Rinku Singh
Rinku was a part of the Men in Blue side in the 2026 T20 World Cup and played some games before being released from the squad in between the matches due to the sad demise of his father during the major tournament. 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 side back in 2023; however, he was not added to the main squad of the T20 World Cup 2024 and went as a travelling reserve. But since making his debut, he has been a decent performer for the Men in Blue side, and Rinku Singh has mainly done the role of the finisher.
Middling IPL 2026 season
Rinku Singh, coming to the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, did not have the best of starts and took off in the middle phase of the league, but his performances were not up to the mark. He scored the maximum runs for the Knights and took responsibility in the middle order despite being out of form in the initial part.
In this IPL, he scored 295 runs with an average of 59.00 and a strike rate of 148.99, but still could not help his team qualify for the playoffs. The KKR vice-captain should have been in the Indian side, given his form with the national side and performances as a finisher in world cricket.
India wants all-round options in the middle-order
However, in India, the talent for T20 cricket is huge, and the pool of cricketers is also very big; cricketers need to perform consistently and with a good strike rate. Rinku Singh has scored 665 with an average of 39.1 and a strike rate of 155.7, but it has not been enough to get selected.
Another big setback for Rinku Singh is that he is not a middle-order all-rounder, as he cannot bowl. India have looked for all-rounders in the middle-order, whether spin or pace bowling. This has been another reason that Rinku Singh has often been overlooked in the shorter format of the game.
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