'Bad Days Build..': Nitish Rana's Cryptic Post After Missing Out on India's T20I Squad For West Indies Tour

Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL 2023 captain Nitish Rana has shared a cryptic post on social media, a couple of hours after India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies was announced, on Wednesday, 5 July. Neither Rana nor his KKR teammate Rinku Singh found a place in the Indian team which will play 5 T20Is against the Caribbean nation, with the series set to take place from 3-13 August.

Not only did Rana captain KKR in IPL 2023, he also had his career-best IPL season with the bat as the aggressive batter scored 413 runs in 14 games although the two-time IPL champs missed out on a playoffs berth as they finished in seventh place, with 12 points.

Rana had also impressive during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022-23, finishing among the highest run-scorers however, the 29-year-old couldn’t find a place in India’s T20I squad for the Caribbean tour, despite the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma being rested.

Rinku was another name who was not included and it raised plenty of eyebrows following a stellar campaign wherein the 25-year-old scored five sixes in a row against Gujarat Titans, and he also smashed 474 runs in 14 matches, at a blistering strike rate of 149, and an average of 59.

Following the announcement of India’s latest T20I squad led by Hardik Pandya, Rana took to his Twitter account and posted a cryptic note.

The note read, “Bad days build better days.”

India’s T20I squad for the West Indies tour saw Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma get their maiden call-ups while Sanju Samson also made his return to the Indian team.

With new chief selector Ajit Agarkar heading the selection committee, the BCCI continued to monitor the workload of Rohit and Virat, while Mukesh Kumar and Umran Malik got the nod in the pace battery.

Suryakumar Yadav, the number 1 ranked T20I batter will be Pandya’s deputy, while Avesh Khan returned to the T20I squad after a long time. Ravindra Jadeja was also rested.

India’s T20I squad: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.