5 Players Who Didn't Get A Place In India's Squad For Sri Lanka Tour

The BCCI, on Thursday, announced a 20-man India squad to tour Sri Lanka for three ODIs, followed by as many T20Is from July 13 to 25. Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan has been named the India captain for the first time in his career, and senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is appointed the vice-captain of the side.

As many as 5 players – Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, K Gowtham, and Chetan Sakariya – have been given their maiden call-ups to the national squad; the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Manish Pandey are re-called to the India setup.

Other than that, Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore, and Simarjeet Singh are selected as reserve bowlers to travel with the squad.

However, there are few players who may consider themselves unlucky to miss out on the selection.

5 Players Who Didn’t Get A Place In India Squad For Sri Lanka Tour:

Jalaj Saxena

Jalaj Saxena, the 34-year-old all-rounder from Madhya Pradesh, has been made to wait a long time for his India call-up. That wait continued to increase, and probably might not ever get a call considering he didn’t find a place in the second-string squad.

He is a first-class veteran with 123 matches to his name, in which he scored 6334 runs and taken 347 wickets, putting up outstanding numbers year after year; he has 1957 runs in 99 List-A games along with 116 wickets. He has been excluded at times from India A as well despite scoring over 500 runs in six out of the last eight Ranji Trophy seasons, and taking over 40 wickets in three out of the last five seasons.

Rahul Tewatia

It’s a surprise that Rahul Tewatia is dropped for the Sri Lanka tour considering he was part of India’s squad in the series against England at home, but did not get a game; it was reported that Tewatia had failed the fitness tests then and hence was not considered for the final eleven.

With the presence of the likes of all-rounders Krunal Pandya and Krishnappa Gowtham, Tewatia has not been selected. He was brilliant last IPL scoring 255 runs at a strike rate of 139.34, including the memorable heist versus Punjab Kings, in addition to 10 wickets. In IPL 2021, however, he couldn’t make any notable performance.

Harshal Patel

Being the leading wicket-taker of the truncated IPL 2021, Harshal Patel may have expected a ring from the national selectors. However, it was not to be. Indian cricket is amidst an unprecedented depth of high-quality pacers.

The inclusion of young and inexperienced Chetan Sakariya ahead of Harshal Patel though is a surprise; in fact, Patel is not even among the 5 net bowlers.

He has taken 17 wickets so far this season, including a five-wicket haul, as he became the first bowler ever to do so against the Mumbai Indians. He was impressive in the death with his variations.

Deepak Hooda

Deepak Hooda was part of India’s squad on their previous visit to Sri Lanka during the 2018 Nidahas Trophy, which India won, but Hooda didn’t get any chance to make his debut. He was never called up again.

Recently he also opted out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after having a tussle with Baroda captain, Krunal Pandya. Hooda sparkled in the now-suspended IPL 2021 – batting for Punjab Kings, he has scored 116 runs at a strike rate of 143.21, with his best knock – 64 off 28 balls – coming in the first game against Rajasthan Royals.

Shreyas Gopal

Another all-rounder who has missed the eye of the selectors in the past few years is Rajasthan Royals’ Shreyas Gopal. The right-hander has scored 2674 first-class runs at an average of 34.28 in addition to having 191 wickets to his name. In List-A cricket, he averages 21.70 with the bat and has taken 77 wickets in 47 outings.

Since 2018, Gopal has been a regular player for the Royals; overall he has plucked 48 wickets in 47 IPL matches, at an impressive economy of 8.03. This season, however, he has gone wicketless in two matches and leaked runs at 12.50 per over.

Also Read: I Wish My Father Was Here To See This, Says Chetan Sakariya On His India Call-Up