That Rinku Singh is now a contender for a spot in India’s Test squad is quite evident after he was named in the India A squad following Kohli’s withdrawal.
A day after Virat Kohli pulled out of the first two Tests against England due to undisclosed personal reasons, Rinku Singh was added to the India A squad for the second unofficial Test against England Lions. Connecting these two developments may seem a bit over the top, but there appears to be clear planning from the selection committee to keep their options open. “The Men’s Selection Committee has added Rinku Singh to India ‘A’ squad for the second four-day match against England Lions to be played in Ahmedabad from 24th January,” BCCI said in a release on Tuesday.
Right at the end of the unusually long statement released to announce Kohli’s absence from the Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam Tests, the BCCI said that the men’s selection committee led by former pacer Ajit Agarkar would announce a replacement for the star batter “soon.”
That Rinku Singh is now a contender is quite evident. BCCI had announced India A squads for the second and third four-day games on January 19. They made a few changes to the team that drew the first match. Wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra earned his maiden India call-up for the second and third matches as KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel would join the senior Indian team, Washington Sundar came back into the red-ball scheme of things and pacer Arshdeep Singh and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani were named for the third match. Rinku too was added to the squad but for the third match only.(HT)