Why pick Venkatesh Iyer over Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson? Fans slam BCCI selectors

In IPL 2022, Venkatesh Iyer could only manage 182 runs in his 12 innings out of which two of his high scores were an unbeaten 50 and 43, meaning he could only manage 89 runs in the other 10 innings he played

The Board of Control Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday (May 22) announced the Men in Blue squad for their upcoming series against South Africa and netizens were not impressed by some decisions of the selection led by Chetan Sharma. To be specific, Venkatesh Iyer was the main question being asked on Twitter, given the performance he had in IPL 2022, fans were asking why Venky has got the chance but not Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi.

International cricket will resume for India after the IPL 2022 season finishes off and KL Rahul was announced as the captain for India's upcoming series against South Africa next month. Shikhar Dhawan was also left out of the squad and Rishabh Pant was announced as the vice captain of the team.

Venkatesh Iyer had a stellar debut season with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when he came into the side but since his India debut, Venky's form has taken a major dip in his performances. In IPL 2022, Venkatesh Iyer could only manage 182 runs in his 12 innings out of which two of his highest scores were an unbeaten 50 and 43, meaning he could only manage 89 runs in the other 10 innings he played.

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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are rested for the T20I series. Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya make a comeback after their stupendous show in this season of IPL. Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh get a maiden India call-up. The express quick bowler from Kashmir picked up after taking 21 wickets in 13 matches for SunRisers Hyderabad in this season of IPL.

The selection committee has also named India's 17-member Test squad for the fifth rescheduled Test against England to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 1-5. India currently lead the Test series 2-1.

India's squad: KL Rahul (C), 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 and Umran Malik.

With ANI inputs