Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith said it’s important for Rahul Tewatia to focus his frustration on improving and make sure he never gets snubbed again from selection after the all-rounder was left out from the squad for the T20I series in Ireland.
Despite the absence of the Test players, who will be in England at that time, and Tewatia’s brilliant show in the IPL 2022 which helped Gujarat Titans win their maiden IPL title in their debut year, the Haryana all-rounder was not selected for the Ireland tour.
After the snub, Tewatia took to Twitter and wrote,
“Expectations hurts”
Expectations hurts 😒😒
— Rahul Tewatia (@rahultewatia02) June 15, 2022
Graeme Smith’s advice to Rahul Tewatia
Speaking to Star Sports, former South African skipper Graeme Smith explained that selectors, coaches and captains must look at the conditions in Australia and accordingly select their squad. He advised Tewatia to let his performance do the talking. Smith told Star Sports,
“India have so many talented players. The selectors, Rahul and Rohit, now have an idea of what the majority of the squad is going to look like and who are the players that are vying for the other squad positions. So it’s very difficult to sit here and say. We know he has done so well but there is so much competition out there.”
Smith went on to add,
“I would tell him ‘stay off Twitter, focus on your game, perform. Make sure the next time the squad comes out, no one can leave you out because you have just dashed that door down.”
Tewatia had a strong IPL season this year, helping Gujarat Titans win a handful of games on his own while filling in as a finisher. Tewatia played 16 matches and scored 217 runs with an excellent strike rate of 147.62 and an average of 31.
One of his most valuable IPL performances came against Punjab Kings, when he blasted two consecutive sixes off the final two deliveries to assist his team win the game. Gujarat went on to win the IPL in their maiden season in the competition.
India’s squad for the Ireland series
Team India will play a couple of T20Is against Ireland in Ireland, where Hardik Pandya will lead the side, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his deputy. The senior members of the squad will be with the test team for the match against England. Hardik Pandya has been rewarded for his captaincy stint with the Gujarat Titans.
The team is as follows, Hardik Pandya (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.