Team India is set to play T20I series against Ireland with a new skipper Hardik Pandya, who was leading the IPL 2022 winner Gujarat Titans in the recently concluded season of the marquee tournament.
The BCCI’s 17-member squad for the upcoming T20I series in Ireland saw a maiden team India call for Rahul Tripathi and finally after ending the wait, Sanju Samson has also been recalled by the selectors.
While, Gujarat Titans star all-rounder Rahul Tewatia was left out of the Indian squad for the two-match series despite his outstanding performance in the recently-concluded season of the IPL.
Soon after India team announcement for the Ireland series, Tewatia took to Twitter and said expectations hurts.
Taking cognizance on Tewatia’s tweet, former South Africa captain Graeme Smith advised him to focus on his game rather than the social media. He has also shared a piece of advice to the youngster after the selector’s have ignored him for the upcoming Ireland series.
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While speaking about the Indian squad for the Ireland series, Smith stressed the importance of Tewatia focusing on his game and performing. He advised Tewatia to perform so well that the selectors will be forced to consider him the next time an Indian squad is announced.
India have so many talented players and now the selectors have an idea of what the majority of the squad is going to look like and who are the players that are vying for the other squad positions. So it’s very difficult to sit here and say. He knows that Tewatia has done so well but there is so much competition out there, Smith told Star Sports.
Make sure the next time the squad comes out, no one can leave him out because he have just dashed that door down, he said.
The Gujarata Titans all-rounder has played finisher’s role for his team to lift the winning trophy of IPL 2022. He scored 217 runs across 12 innings at a strike rate of 147.62.
Tewatia had made headlines in last yea’s IPL when he had blasted 5 back to back sixes against Punjab Kings pacer Sheldon Cotrell while this year he had smashed 3 consecutive sixes against another West Indian pacer Rovman Powell to win the match.
India’s squad for the Ireland series: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
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