The 'Impact Player' rule, which has literally turned IPL matches into a '12-a-side affair', has dealt a raw deal to power hitter Rinku Singh, who could not make it into the Indian main squad for the T20 World Cup because he simply didn't have enough playing time to his name. The 26-year-old Aligarh left-hander, who captured the imagination of the cricket world with five sixes in an over during the previous IPL, made way for Shivam Dube in the national main squad, while his name eventually belonged to the reserves.
Dube came in thanks to more playing time for Chennai Super Kings in the first ten matches of the competition.
Those privy to the selection meeting held in Ahmedabad on Tuesday unanimously agreed that Rinku became an easy omission for the panel as he could not be fielded alongside Hardik Pandya and Dube in the same 15.
“Undoubtedly Rinku has paid the price for the Impact Player rule. He is downright unlucky. Hardik may be in poor form but he is still India's best bowling all-rounder and it would have been a risk to take him dropped as he is the only one who bowled,” a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
So how did the Impact Player rule become Rinku's downfall? Kolkata Knight Riders treated Rinku as a finisher and he never got a chance to finish in the top five. In eight innings before selection, he played just 82 balls, which works out to around 10 balls per innings.
The two Iyers – Venkatesh and skipper Shreyas – along with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who is anything but a power hitter, got the majority of the overs, leaving Rinku with little to do in the end.
You can't blame KKR for not promoting Rinku, but the truth is that the two Iyers were never considered for the national selection. Their names weren't even a topic of discussion.
Chennai Super Kings and their astute tactician Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on the other hand, have been making the most of Dube since he arrived in the 2021 season.
Dube has played 203 balls in nine matches for CSK so far. That's about 23 balls per game – 13 more than Rinku, allowing him to play 26 sixes, apart from 24 fours.
Rinku hit nine fours and six sixes in his 82 balls.
The 13 extra balls Dube got as an Impact Player made the difference, especially on flatter decks where you could hit through the line.
Rinku did not even get a fair share of batting on tracks where Raghuvanshi and the Iyers consumed more deliveries.
Dube has not bowled his medium pacers as Dhoni has rightly assessed that his bowling skills are below par and on most days he will be a stationary target for batters who like to bat at distance.
Dhoni made the most of Dube and is instrumental in putting him in the national reckoning based on core skills: power on slower decks.
If there was no Impact Player rule, it is not clear whether Dhoni and current CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad could have used Dube in his current avatar.
Therefore, Rinku's strike rate of 176 in 15 matches for India till January 2024, including two fifties, was not enough to earn him a place in the main squad.
Just as Ambati Rayudu's exclusion was one of the most unfortunate decisions before the 2019 ODI World Cup, one can only hope that Rinku's omission from the main squad is not ultimately a hara-kiri.
Since Rinku is part of the traveling reserves, he has a chance to join the 15 in case one of the first team members gets injured.
Furthermore, until May 23, selectors do not need any reason to change the squad if they feel it is necessary.
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