India announced their squad for the upcoming South Africa T20I series and it looks a good mix of young and a handful of experienced players. Even though it is a risky move heading all the way to the Rainbow Nation to introduce so many new faces, yet as the famous English proverb goes, if someone wants to find out, who is going to survive in the long-race, throw him or her at the deep end, they will either come out a hero, swimming or they will drown.
Despite so many new faces making the cut for the Indian team, there are few more names that could have been a part of the squad too. They were unlucky, yes, and here are four players who would consider themselves unfortunate to not be a part of the India-South Africa series.
#1 Mohammed Siraj
It is understandable that India would like to maintain the workload of the ace RCB quick but his recent numbers have been really shaky. It wouldn’t have been a bad move to get him on the team and give him a decent run ahead of the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy considering the fact that the conditions can be similar between South Africa and Australia.
#2 Shashank Singh
Shashank Singh was a key member of Punjab Kings’ latest madness and he has been a domestic juggernaut over the years for Chhattisgarh. This could have been a great opportunity for Shashank to showcase his hard-hitting flair in front of the world and also learn a lot from the other exciting names in the dugout.
#3 Shreyas Iyer
The KKR captain has had his fair shares of challenges in recent times. If India wanted him to be back to the international circuit, there was never going to be a better time. He is a proven campaigner and his presence in the team could have been key to a solid middle-order.
#4 Abdul Samad
Abdul Samad has been in phenomenal touch of late and also showed his class in the last edition of the IPL. He has scored two centuries in two innings for Jammu and Kashmir while playing against Odisha in their latest Ranji encounter. He has only gone from strength to strength and the youngster could have been a valuable addition to the Indian side, considering his all-round flair.
