Exclusion of Rinku Singh was the toughest call, he has done nothing wrong: Ajit Agarkar
Mumbai, May 2: Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar on Thursday described the omission of Rinku Singh from India's T20 World Cup squad as the "toughest" call, saying the in-from swashbuckler has "done nothing wrong" and it all came down to combinations.
Rinku, Kolkata Knight Riders' big-hitting finisher from Aligarh, could not find a place in the 15-member squad as the think-tank preferred Chennai Super Kings' Shivam Dube over him.
The exclusion of Rinku, who has scored 356 runs at an average of 89 and strike rate of 176.24 in T20Is for India, became a major talking point since the Indian team's announcement two days ago and has caused a massive furore on social media.
"It (not picking Rinku) is probably the toughest thing we have had to discuss. He has done nothing wrong, not even Shubman Gill for that matter. It is not his fault that he missed out. It's about combinations," Agarkar said during a press conference here.
"A couple of wrist spinners were included to give Rohit (Sharma) more options. There are two keepers, we needed an extra bowler. It's just unfortunate. He's in the reserves, so that tells you how close he came into being in the 15. But at the end of the day, you can only pick 15 players in the squad," Agarkar added.
Rinku, who is not having a great IPL season as he is not getting to face enough balls, though made it to the list of reserves.
Rinku had been fast-tracked into the Indian T20I team after a fantastic run in the IPL last year but this season, he has managed just 123 runs in nine matches with a strike rate of 150.00, whereas Gill, captaining Gujarat Titans this time, has aggregated 320 runs from 10 matches at a strike rate of 140.97.
The left-handed Yashasvi Jaiswal has been preferred over Gill.
Meanwhile Abhishek Nayar, the head of KKR Academy and assistant coach of the franchise, did not feel Rinku was out of form and whatever runs he has scored this IPL season for KKR have been crucial for the team.
Nayar played a key role in shaping Rinku's career, especially when the batter was suffering from ACL (anterior cruciate ligament injury), and the former Mumbai cricketer also worked on his hitting skills.
"I would not agree (that it is about) IPL form. I think he has not played enough balls barring one-odd game wherein he has not got runs. He has got runs in every game which have been critical runs for us. The form has never been in question," Nayar backed his ward.
"When you look at any cricketer in world cricket or even in T20 cricket, sometimes the role you play doesn't justify what numbers you have at the end of the day.
"Just in terms of the role he plays for us and for any team, which is a finisher's role, you tend to play 8-10 balls and you look at how well he does in 8-10 balls and not how many runs he scored."
Over the last few years, Nayar has established himself as a prominent coach in domestic and franchise cricket.
"If you go back and look at his stats and his strike rate in comparison to the balls he has played, I think you will get your answer right there. It's not a form problem at all," Nayar said of Rinku.
Later on, after his press conference, India captain Rohit joined the Mumbai Indians squad for their pre-match training ahead of the clash against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Rohit was involved in a group discussion which included Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat and even Gautam Gambhir when he spotted Rinku coming towards him.
Rohit moved away from the group and spoke with Rinku for a while.
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SC to hear today NGO's plea for release of voter turnout data for LS polls within 48 hours
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to grant an urgent hearing on a plea by an NGO seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the counsel appearing for the Election Commission (EC) to take instructions and said it will hear the matter at the end of the board.
The matter was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), seeking urgent listing of the petition.
Last week, the NGO filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that "scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)" of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.
"Direct the Election Commission to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections," the NGO said.
It said the plea was filed to ensure that the democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
"The data, as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase (by about 5-6 per cent) as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 pm on the day of polling," the plea said.
The petition said the "inordinate" delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5 per cent in the poll panel's press note of April 30, 2024 has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.
The non-release of the absolute number of votes polled coupled with the "unreasonable delay" in the release of votes polled data has led to apprehensions in the mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, it said.
"These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. That in order to uphold the voter's confidence it is necessary that the ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling," it said.
