"KL Rahul should have been there" - Riteish Deshmukh unhappy with LSG captain's absence from India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad

Wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul was among the notable absentees from Team India's recently announced 15-member squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Rahul, who leads the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL, also did not find a place in the traveling reserves for the showpiece event.

Popular Indian actor Riteish Deshmukh expressed his displeasure over the team selection. Taking to his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Deshmukh suggested that Rahul should have made the cut in the Men in Blue squad for the ICC event.

"KL Rahul should have been there in the #T20WorldCup squad," Deshmukh wrote.

KL Rahul was overlooked despite an impressive run in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The national selectors gave the nod to Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson over Rahul for the keeper-batter's role.

Returning to competitive cricket with the IPL 2024 following a short injury break, Rahul has looked in good touch with the bat. He is currently the leading run-getter for Lucknow this season, amassing 406 runs from 10 games at an average of 40.60 and a strike rate of 142.95.

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"I felt KL Rahul might get selected" - Aakash Chopra on India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad

Former Team India opener Aakash Chopra stated that he wouldn't have been surprised to see KL Rahul's name in India's squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup.

He, however, opined that even if Rahul had been picked, he wouldn't have made it to the playing XI. Chopra mentioned that Rishabh Pant would have anyway been the first-choice wicketkeeper, given that both Rahul and Sanju Samson haven't batted in the middle-order in IPL 2024.

The cricketer-turned-commentator said on his YouTube channel:

"Two wicketkeepers have been selected. One is Sanju Samson and the other is Rishabh Pant. Either of them can play, let's be fair. You assume Rishabh Pant is the first-choice keeper and the second is Sanju Samson."

"I felt KL Rahul might get selected. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had been selected and I am not surprised even if he hasn't been selected because whoever would have been selected here, wouldn't have played. Neither of them has batted down the order," he added.

India's 15-member squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohd. Siraj.

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, and Avesh Khan.