Formed India captain Sourav Ganguly has questioned star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s omission from the T20I squad for the upcoming tour of West Indies.
While Kohli and Rohit feature in India's Test and ODI squads, they have been left out of the T20I team, with the selectors not issuing any official statement on their future in the shortest format.
Notably, Kohli and Rohit have not played a T20I since India's T20 World Cup semi-final exit last year.
According to Ganguly, the two veteran campaigners can still contribute to the team in the shortest format.
"Pick your best players, it doesn't matter who they are. In my opinion, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma still have a place in T20I cricket and I cannot see why a Kohli or a Rohit cannot play T20I cricket. Kohli was in great form in the IPL, and both have place in T20 cricket, if you ask me," Ganguly told RevSportz in an interaction.
Apart from Rohit and Kohli, IPL stars Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jitesh Sharma also failed to find a place in the T20I squad.
Speaking on their exclusion, Ganguly urged the youngsters to keep performing, adding that their time will come eventually.
While young batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma have earned their maiden India call-ups for the West Indies T20I series, Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jitesh Sharma’s non-selection raised a lot of eyebrows.
It is pertinent to mention here that Rinku, Gaikwad and Jitesh performed exceptionally well for their respective teams in the IPL 2023 season.
Commenting on their exclusion, Ganguly urged the youngsters to keep performing, saying that their time will come eventually.
"They just have to keep playing. They will have to keep performing in whatever chances they get. It happens all the time. Only 15 can be picked in the squad, and 11 can play. So, somebody has to miss out. I am pretty sure their time will come," the former India skipper remarked.
India will play two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is on the tour of West Indies. The T20I series will be played from August 3 to August 13.
