Ind vs WI 2019: 3 players who were unlucky to miss out from India's T20I squad
The Indian squad for three T20Is against West Indies was announced on Sunday, 21st July which comprised of 15 players - Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini.
The selection would have been made keeping the T20 World Cup in mind which is scheduled for October next year. India are blessed with a giant talent pool for the shorter white-ball cricket thanks to the Indian Premier League which makes it increasingly difficult for the young talents to cut into the squad.
Whilst the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Khaleel Ahmed, Chahar cousins and, Navdeep Saini have got the opportunity, a few youngsters did not get a chance to showcase their skills at the international stage.
In this slideshow, we discuss three talented players who were unlucky to be ignored for the senior team.
#3 Shreyas Gopal
Shreyas Gopal, the most successful Indian spinner in IPL 2019 could not make the cut to the T20I squad. Averaging 17.35 with the ball, the Karnataka-born bowler picked 20 wickets in just 14 matches. The leg-spinner had an incredible strike rate of 14.40 and conceded about 7 runs per over during this period.
The quality of Gopal can be known by the fact that two best batsmen of this generation - AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli have got out to him 4 and 3 times respectively in four matches RCB have played against Rajasthan Royals in last two IPL seasons. The 25-year-old Gopal is also a handy lower-order batsman. His highest score of 150 in the first-class cricket and batting strike rate of 136.95 in IPL 2019 was evidence of his batting skills. The selectors along with the skipper Virat Kohli could have given him a go in the International cricket.