India's T20I squad vs South Africa - Hardik, Gill back.. No Rinku

[bowl_out]

The five matches will be played on December 9, 11, 14, 17 and 19 in Cuttack, New Chandigarh, Dharamsala, Lucknow and Ahmedabad respectively.

 

India's T20I squad for South Africa series

 

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill (vice-capt)*, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar

 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/hardik-pandya-back-in-india-t20i-squad-shubman-gill-to-play-subject-to-fitness-1514215

 

 

[bowl_out]

No Rinku in the squad.

 

Nitish Reddy dropped finally.

 

Gill somehow sneaks in despite not being fully fit

[tweaker]

The selectors could have been brave and selected some Young players.

 

Axar,Kuldeep, Sundar, should have been rested

[bowl_out]

21 minutes ago, tweaker said:

The selectors could have been brave and selected some Young players.

 

Axar,Kuldeep, Sundar, should have been rested

 

Unlikely that they'll make big changes given that the WC is in 3 months.

[bowl_out]

Some things are clear -

 

1. Jaiswal is not in contention

2. Rinku is back up at best or might not even make the squad

3. Confusion persists on who is first choice keeper. Sanju might open in the first few games, but will be kicked out when Gill comes back

4. Rana is likely the third pacer. The only way he can get a game is if they play him at 8. It will be Washi or Rana at 8 depending on conditions

5. Bowlers will be Bumrah + Hardik + Varun + Kuldeep + Axar + one of Rana/Washi.. Arshdeep can make the XI only if Kuldeep is dropped.

[putrevus]

Why is Rinku kicked out.

Edited December 3, 2025 by putrevus

[vvvslaxman]

Hope they lose everything

[helperononline]

40 minutes ago, bowl_out said:

Some things are clear -

 

1. Jaiswal is not in contention

2. Rinku is back up at best or might not even make the squad

3. Confusion persists on who is first choice keeper. Sanju might open in the first few games, but will be kicked out when Gill comes back

4. Rana is likely the third pacer. The only way he can get a game is if they play him at 8. It will be Washi or Rana at 8 depending on conditions

5. Bowlers will be Bumrah + Hardik + Varun + Kuldeep + Axar + one of Rana/Washi.. Arshdeep can make the XI only if Kuldeep is dropped.

Opening with Sanju is risky if he performs well then gill’s position is in danger. So instead play Jitesh and open with surya or tilak 

[tapandrun]

5 hours ago, putrevus said:

Why is Rinku kicked out.

Rinku does not serve any purpose in the side :: he is slotted at 6/7/8 where he wont get to bat that often and when ever he plays performances are not guaranteed.

Plus he is not like a power hitter like Tim David. 

 

Rinku can not bowl and does not have power game to play as a batter that low down the order. His job previously was also be in team disguised as finisher but how team really used /wanted use him is as accumulator if there was a mini collapse.

 

And now Ind has a dedicated anchor in Gill so they can not have 2 anchors.

Edited December 3, 2025 by tapandrun

[Chakdephatte]

Gill will eventually score a fifty somewhere someday and that's enough for Agarkar to claim his selection worked. Sad state of affairs. 

[tapandrun]

2 minutes ago, Chakdephatte said:

Gill will eventually score a fifty somewhere someday and that's enough for Agarkar to claim his selection worked. Sad state of affairs. 

that was the plan when they got him in asia cup few not so good teams a big score was guaranteed but it didn't worked out that well bcoz of varios reasons 

[cricketfan28]

Good selection, easy win for us.

[jf1gp_1]

Kuldeep against SA both in test and odi has been disappointing. 

[Nikhil_cric]

Washi the great finisher selected for the T20 squad as well 

[bowl_out]

12 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Washi the great finisher selected for the T20 squad as well 

Honestly, he is better in T20 than in ODIs.

He can either swing or deadbat, has no middle game or strike rotation. And he can bowl 4 fairly economical overs

 

Hence why does fairly well in Tests and T20s.

[vvvslaxman]

Dube has to expand his game too. On fastish wickets he will.be a sitting duck. Indian batsmen in this line up is contains less bar Abhishek. Suryavnashi will.soon surpass Abhishek. His hitting range cannot be matched by Gill.  We are wasting him.

[jf1gp_1]

12 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Dube has to expand his game too. On fastish wickets he will.be a sitting duck. Indian batsmen in this line up is contains less bar Abhishek. Suryavnashi will.soon surpass Abhishek. His hitting range cannot be matched by Gill.  We are wasting him.

I am just glad Pandya is back. Brings that balance. 

[tapandrun]

2 hours ago, bowl_out said:

Honestly, he is better in T20 than in ODIs.

He can either swing or deadbat, has no middle game or strike rotation. And he can bowl 4 fairly economical overs

 

Hence why does fairly well in Tests and T20s.

no top t20 team plays a specialist off-spinner. off-spin has to come from a proper batter.

Unless there are a lot of LH batters there is no way bowling team is going to risk 4 overs of an off-spinner who does not have the dusra.

 

His t20i sr is 135 (that too playing mostly vs B level teams), his IPL sr is 127 , better to pick a batter who can bowl some off-spin when needed.

 

The issue is his technique and range-- He as 2 six-hitting shots sweep vs Spin and pull vs pace.

His weight remains on backfoot but he does not have strong core and bat swing to hit from that position. With weight being on back-foot batter need a good windup and fast and complete bat swing - like baseball they all have their weight on backfoot and have v.fast bat swing and big windup. 

In cricket tim seifert is good example and Aron finch when he was hitting from backfoot.

 

 

PPl here think Jadeja is misfit for white-ball with SR of 127 (mostly played vs full strength sides) , a far better fielder and a LA spin next best thing if team does not have mystery spin or wrist spin. not saying jadeja is a good white-ball player just giving a prospective. both are not good options.

 

Both have no power game and limited range and ca not access off-side that well

Edited December 3, 2025 by tapandrun

[singhvivek141]

11 hours ago, tapandrun said:

Rinku does not serve any purpose in the side :: he is slotted at 6/7/8 where he wont get to bat that often and when ever he plays performances are not guaranteed.

Plus he is not like a power hitter like Tim David. 

 

Rinku can not bowl and does not have power game to play as a batter that low down the order. His job previously was also be in team disguised as finisher but how team really used /wanted use him is as accumulator if there was a mini collapse.

 

And now Ind has a dedicated anchor in Gill so they can not have 2 anchors.

Play Rinku in ODIs then.

He can surely work on his off spin...he was bowling 2-3 overs in UPT20. Ofcourse there is gulf in quality but thats a base to start with.

 

Tilak stopped bowling, he was a decent off spinners. He needs to pick that up before it gets lost. Parag too has to continue rolling his arm.

[tapandrun]

2 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

Play Rinku in ODIs then.

He can surely work on his off spin...he was bowling 2-3 overs in UPT20. Ofcourse there is gulf in quality but thats a base to start with.

 

Tilak stopped bowling, he was a decent off spinners. He needs to pick that up before it gets lost. Parag too has to continue rolling his arm.

at spot 6/7/8 need player who can do two things, else they will look like specialist fielders in most of the games.

either have power game like tim david or have multiple skills. The issue here is Ind does not have batter with good power game. 

 

 

ppl suggested parag in t20is but he has issues with his batting, just look at his dismissal in recent smat you will know the evident issues in his batting technique for a t20i batter, where batter need to hit the ball consistently he punches/jabs rather than having a full swing of the bat. when it will come off it will look good but in t20s need constant hitting where his kind of batting technique causes issues