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

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.

#2 Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana

The talented batsman Nitish Rana is another unlucky player to miss out from the Indian T20I squad for the series against West Indies. Rana is a very good batsman in the shortest format of the game. Having appeared in four editions of the Indian Premier League, Rana has been very impressive putting on some splendid performances for Mumbai Indians, the southpaw was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for 3.4 crores in 2018.

Averaging more than 34 with the bat, the 27-year-old batsman piled 344 runs with a decent strike rate of about 146 in his fourth IPL season. The ‘Men in Blue’ need an attacking batsman in the middle order to partner Rishabh Pant. Thus, Nitish Rana can be a useful option for the Indian team. Besides being a good batsman, the Delhi-born is also a more than handy part-time off-spinner. Although his bowling skills are not very trustworthy, he can roll his arm as per the requirement of the team.

#1 Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson

The wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson has been pretty consistent in the Indian Premier League, especially in the last three editions. Sanju Samson can be a good back up option for Rishabh Pant. The elegant batsman had an average of more than 30 and scored four 50+ scores including one century in the last two seasons. The right-handed batsman has already represented India in T20 internationals.

The 24-year-old batsman made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in 2015 but could not make the most of the only opportunity. Sanju has a fair experience of playing T20s having played 142 T20s including 93 IPL matches under his belt. He has been playing in IPL since 2013, performed his best in the IPL 2019. The dashing batsman from Kerala averaged 34.20 with a strike rate of more than 148. He amassed 342 runs in 12 games with one swashbuckling century against SRH in the second game of IPL 2019.