3 notable omissions in Rest of India squad for Irani Cup 2023 ft. Ajinkya Rahane

While cricket fans across the globe are getting excited for the upcoming ODI World Cup, BCCI have announced the Rest of India squad for the upcoming 2023 Irani Cup.

The Irani Cup is a first-class tournament organised by the BCCI to be played between the winners of the Ranji Trophy and a team comprising players from Ranji teams of several states. The Rest of India have been victorious the most times with 25 wins in the competition's history.

The 2023-24 domestic cricket season will resume on October 1, with last season's Ranji Trophy winners Saurashtra hosting the Rest of India team in the Irani Cup at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The match will be played in parallel with the Cricket World Cup warm-ups and the World Cup opener on October 5.

Jaydev Unadkat will lead the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy champions, Saurashtra, against the Rest of India outfit, which will be led by Hanuma Vihari for the Irani Cup 2023.

With several India A players away with the national team at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the selectors have decided to give chances to young batsmen Yash Dhull and Rohan Kunnummal. They have been considered because of their high potential despite them having endured poor Ranji seasons.

On the other hand, despite several players being busy in the World Cup 2023 and Asian Games, there were some surprise eyeball-grabbing omissions from the Rest of India squad. In this article, we will list down some of the major misses from the Rest of India squad and see whether they actually deserved to be excluded from the team.

3 notable omissions in Rest of India squad for Irani Cup 2023

#3. Dhruv Shorey

Dhruv Shorey is a technically sound batsman who has more often than not shown the penchant to thrive under pressure in red-ball cricket. He had a memorable 2022-23 Ranji Trophy where he hammered 859 runs in just seven matches at an average of 95.44. He was the fourth-highest run-getter in the tournament and would definitely be feeling let down after being overlooked for the 2023 Irani Cup.

Shorey also had a decent outing in the Duleep Trophy this year, where he was among the top five run-getters in the tournament, scoring runs at an average of 44.50.

#2. Jalaj Saxena

One of the domestic giants, Jalaj Saxena, continued to put up great performances season after season. The 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season was no different for him, where he topped the list of highest wicket takers with 50 wickets in just seven matches.

In fact, when Saxena was not selected for the South Zone team after his Ranji Trophy exploits, former pacer Venkatesh Prasad was extremely disappointed and said (as per Outlook India):

"There are many laughable things happening in Indian cricket. The highest wicket taker in Ranji Trophy not being picked even for the South Zone team is as baffling as it gets. Just renders the Ranji Trophy useless..what a shame."

The Kerala all-rounder will be disappointed for sure, and rightly so. He has been doing all the hard yards, but his contribution continue to be overlooked.

#1 Ajinkya Rahane

One of the most surprising exclusions from the Irani Cup 2023 squad was former Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane. The 35-year-old, in all likelihood, would have wanted to make an impact, find his form, and be back in Indian red-ball cricket scene.

With selected players like Dhull managing just 270 runs in 10 innings at the 2022–23 Ranji Trophy and Kunnummal managed 203 runs in nine innings, there might've been a spot to try out the veteran Indian batsman. Rahane, of course is a veteran Indian cricketer with a strong first class record under his belt and would've been feeling massively let down with his exclusion.