The plethora of talent that Indian cricket has often made it difficult for players to retain a sustained place in the national team. While Rinku Singh became the victim of competition at the T20 World Cup 2024, Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t get a spot in the team for the tour of Sri Lanka. Neither of the two batters has done anything wrong to sit in the situation they have been in. Still, it’s team combination and preference of different kinds of players that forced the selectors to snub them for different assignments. But, not everyone is understandably happy seeing such selection snubs, with former India and Chennai Super Kings batter S Badrinath making some scathing comments in this regard.
Badrinath himself took to social media as he shared the video of him launching an attack at the selection committee. He admitted being shocked that Gaikwad didn't make the team for the Sri Lanka series.
From the comments made in the video, it was quite understood that the former India star wasn't happy seeing his former franchise's current captain being overlooked despite delivering brilliant performances.
Shocked and surprised not to see Ruturaj Gaikwad in the Indian Team for both T20I and ODIs.
My Thoughts https://t.co/EBKnryFSUM#INDvSL#CricItWithBadripic.twitter.com/OilIH1J4CB— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) July 20, 2024
He even claimed that maybe players need to have relationships with certain Bollywood actresses and have tattoos on the body to be consistently picked.
"Sometimes it seems like you need a bad guy image when the likes of Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and others are not selected for the Indian team. It seems that you need to be in a relationship with some Bollywood actresses, have a good media manager, and have body tattoos," Badrinath could be heard as saying in the video clip.
Ruturaj was a part of the Indian team for the Zimbabwe T20Is, producing scores of 7, 77 and 49 before being rested for the 5th T20I as India had already won the series. He wasn't named in India's T20I squad for the Zimbabwe tour, with the selectors preferring Yashasvi Jaiswal while the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant also returned to the fold. Rinku Singh, however, was picked in the team.