Rinku Singh T20 WC exclusion: Srikkanth, Ambati Rayudu, Aakash Chopra slam BCCI; video of SRK with KKR player surfaces

Rinku Singh's T20 WC exclusion has broken not one but many hearts. From former cricketers, commentators to people on social media, many have slammed BCCI for its decision to keep Singh in 'reserved players' list and not as the playing XI. Rinku Singh is currently playing the IPL from Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders.

The ace batsmen has slowly emerged as one of the most reliable and smashing players of KKR. So when a video of Shah Rukh Khan taking Rinku Singh along with his family at the Mumbai airport surfaced, netizens were quick to say that King Khan picked Rinku up after his WC snub. However, the video seems to be from the match which was over a day before the T20 WC squad was announced.

Cricketers slam BCCI

Former India cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth lashed out at BCCI at Rinku Singh's ommission from the playing XI. "He has played match-winning knocks in South Africa. Remember the game against Afghanistan in which Rohit scored a hundred? India were 22 for 4, from there, they 212. Rinku played a crucial knock. He has given his all whenever he played for India. This is rubbish, rubbish selection. Why do you need four spinners? You have made the selection to please a few people and you have made Rinku a scapegoat," ANI quoted him saying.

"I am not at all happy. Come on all of you. Rinku has been spoken about all over the world. He has performed in each and every opportunity he has got. How can you drop Rinku?" he further questioned.

"Rinku Singh's absence is a huge surprise. I felt he was undroppable," commentator Aakash Chopra said. "Rinku Singh's omission clearly indicates stats rule over cricketing sense...who in this selected Indian has been walking out in the 16th and 17th over in a T20 game in the last 2 years and playing fluently with a high strike-rate and can win a game except Ravindra Jadeja...he is a big miss...quality should come before quantity and most importantly cricketing ability should come before likeability on Instagram," Ambati Rayudu said.

The T-20 squad is

Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.