Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn’t been able to secure a spot in the 15-man squad announced for the India vs. England T20I series. The opener, who has an exceptional record in the limited opportunities he’s gotten, isn’t even on the sidelines at the moment but rather as far away from the action as one can be. But what could be the reasons?
If one were to boil it down to just one word, competition. Gaikwad isn’t the first or last quality player who couldn’t get consistent time in international cricket. Someone like Amol Muzumdar couldn’t even make his India cricket team debut as he played under the shadows of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman.
Tough competition in T20Is
There is no doubt Gaikwad is a fine player, but right now he’s fighting more than five players for that opening spot. Apart from two (Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma) present in the squad for the India vs. England T20I series, you also have Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The latter two don’t play T20Is often, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants them to feature in Test cricket over the shorter format, and therefore both have been rested from T20Is to manage their workloads. Apart from these four, you have Ishan Kishan, who may have fallen out of favour but has two advantages over Gaikwad: being a lefty and a wicketkeeper. Someone like Prabhsimran Singh has been rising through the ranks quickly as well.
Ruturaj Gaikwad T20 stats comparison vs other openers
| Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | 139 | 4874 | 39.95 | 140.46 |
| Sanju Samson | 277 | 7293 | 29.88 | 137.03 |
| Abhishek Sharma | 124 | 3316 | 30.14 | 160.03 |
| Shubman Gill | 142 | 4471 | 36.64 | 136.72 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 100 | 2978 | 31.68 | 150.25 |
Gaikwad less talented than Gill, Jaiswal & Samson?
Apart from his competitors being better, there are other factors as well. Jaiswal has quickly become one of the best batters Team India has, given the chance the selectors and management would bank him over Gaikwad. Similarly, Gill was made the white-ball vice-captain in July. Samson is older and seems to have finally found himself in international cricket while Abishek has that fearlessness that has been tough to find in the past.
Another point is the potential and natural game. One might say Gaikwad might be the least talented striker among those mentioned. He seems more like an anchor than an attacker. All the others also possess the ability to start smashing from the get-go, something which hasn’t been seen with Gaikwad yet. Age also plays a factor; Samson is the only one older than him. All the others are younger, and selectors might persist with them over him.
India’s squad for England T20Is
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
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