Team India will take on West Indies in five T20I encounters from 29th July to 7th August. West Indies is a good T20 team and keeping the context of the 2022 T20 World Cup, the battle against West Indies will be important for the Indians. However, a few players failed to make it to the squad. Although it is still early, it is a big blow for the chances of these players to be a part of the 2022 T20 World Cup. On that note, here are the five players unlucky to miss out on the T20I series against West Indies. Before that, here is a look at the squad selected for the event:
Rohit Sharma (C), I Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, D Hooda, S Iyer, D Karthik, R Pant, H Pandya, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, R Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, B Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. (Inclusion of KL Rahul & Kuldeep Yadav is subject to fitness
1) Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson did well in the T20I series against Ireland. However, the Kerala batter has missed the spot in the T20I squad. It has more to do with players like Deepak Hooda performing well.
Samson is a player with an array of shots in his armory. His attributes serve well in Australia. That said, the player can be inconsistent at times. The upcoming series against West Indies could have helped him establish his place. However, he was not in the announced squad.
2) Umran Malik
Umran Malik is one of the players unlucky to miss out on the T20I series against the West Indies. The speedster from Jammu & Kashmir recently made his debut for Team India.
Although he went for runs in the games he played, Umran is a special talent and will consider himself unlucky. Pacers do find assistance in West Indies and he could have exploited that to good effect.
3) Rahul Tripathi
Rahul Tripathi got a chance to be part of Team India for the Ireland series. However, he did not get a game to showcase his skills.
The Maharashtra cricketer has now been left out of the squad. Like in Samson’s case, the players batting in Tripathi’s position are in top form at the moment. Therefore, he has not got a chance yet to play for Team India.
4) Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad is also one of the players unlucky to miss out on the T20I series against the West Indies. It has been a tough run for the cricketer in Team India, so far. He has struggled to make runs and is not getting consistent chances, too.
The top-order of Team India is brim with plenty of choices. Ruturaj has failed to utilize only a few chances and he is already out of the squad. Therefore, it is an unlucky miss for him.
5) Venkatesh Iyer
Venkatesh Iyer has actually been decent for Team India till now. In the limited games he has got, the all-rounder has shown that he can be a good investment. However, he is yet to come good with the ball.
This is one of the main reasons why Iyer has missed out. Hardik Pandya is bowling at full steam and is adding terrific balance to the squad. Therefore, it would be hard to displace him. With others like Harshal Patel also showing good batting capability, Iyer’s chances at the moment stand low.
