Why Ruturaj Gaikwad Was Dropped For Sri Lanka Tour?
Reasons Behind Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Non-Selection in India’s Squad for Sri Lanka Series
The much-awaited India squad for the Sri Lanka tour was announced on July 18th where we saw notable inclusion in both the T20I & ODI squad. Key players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were included in the ODI, while in a surprising event, Suryakumar Yadav was announced the Captain of the Indian team in the T20I. However, a major surprise was the exclusion of Ruturaj Gaikwad from both squads, which caught the eyes of many. Let’s look at Why Ruturaj Gaikwad Was Dropped For Sri Lanka Tour 2024?
After winning the T20 World Cup in July the India team was set for a revamp to focus on the future of Indian cricket. After World Cup-winning skipper Rohit announced his retirement from T20Is, the Indian team needed a new skipper also the head coach Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended which means a new era for Indian cricket was about to begin.
In the new era of Gautham Gambhir, it was evident that team India would go through many changes, mainly focusing on the building right team for the future. In this new era, one of the major decisions was dropping Gaikwad from the Sri Lanka Series.
Why Ruturaj Gaikwad Was Ignored For Sri Lanka Series
Ruturaj Gaikwad who had a good tour in Zimbabwe recently was ignored by the new head coach and Indian management. Gaikwad who played the first three matches of the tour where he scored 7, 77, and 49 respectively. With 133 runs in three games, Gaikwad had the potential to be at least added to the T20I squad.
Gaikwad who has played 20 innings for India up until now has scored 633 runs with one century and four half-centuries. So with pretty good stats why Gaikwad has been dropped from the squad?
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Key Reason for Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Omission
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s omission from the Sri Lanka series stems from India’s strategic shift in their T20I opening combination. With the team looking to transition away from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the top, the focus now turns to Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. This move underscores India’s forward-looking approach, aiming to groom younger talent like Jaiswal alongside established players like Gill, potentially sidelining Gaikwad despite his promising performances in domestic cricket.
Moreover, the selectors have gone with the surprise pick of Riyan Parag in the T20Is instead of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Gaikwad could have been a proper number three batsman for India after Virat Kohli retired from T20Is but however, but the management had different plans which led to the dropping of Gaikwad from the squad.
Conclusion: What’s the Future of Ruturaj Gaikwad in the Indian Team?
As said before the Indian team has already key openers who will mostly be opening for India and thus with limited places available in the team Gaikwad was dropped from the squad. However, with a lot of series coming up ahead Gaikwad will be poised to come back into the squad and show his worth.
If players like Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal don’t perform well in this series then in the upcoming series we will be seeing Ruturaj Gaikwad in the mix-up.
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