Nitish Rana posts cryptic tweet post T20I snub for India's upcoming South Africa series

Indian cricketer Nitish Rana took to his official Twitter handle on Sunday evening, after he was excluded from the Indian cricket team squad for the upcoming T20I assignment against South Africa. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced an 18-man T20I squad on Sunday, which is led by KL Rahul, while Rishabh Pant was chosen for the vice-captain’s duty. While players like Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh received their maiden Team India call up, 28-year-old Rana yet again missed out on a place in the national squad.

Meanwhile, sharing his thoughts on not being given a chance, Rana said, “Things will change soon”. Rana made his international debut for India during India’s tour of South Africa in 2021, where he played one ODI and two T20Is. He returned with the score of seven runs in the ODI, followed by scores of nine and six in both the T20Is, and has been out of the national squad since then. 

A look at Nitish Rana's form for KKR in IPL 2022

Playing for KKR in the Indian Premier League 2022, Nitish scored the second-most runs for the franchise after skipper Shreyas Iyer. While Iyer tops the run-scoring charts for the team with 401 runs in 14 games, Rana has scored 361 runs in 14 games, at a strike rate of 143.82. He scored the maximum of 57 runs in an innings during the dismal season for KKR.

Shikhar Dhawan and Sanju Samson also got omitted from the India squad

Rana was hopeful to fetch a place in the India squad for the T20I series against the Proteas team, which begins on June 9th at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. However, alongside players like Shikhar Dhawan, Sanju Samson, and Rahul Tripathi, Rana also failed to get selected. It is pertinent to mention that all-format skipper Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli have been rested from the Indian squad.

India’s T20I squad for the SA series: KL Rahul (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

(Image: iplt20.com/BCCI)