'Need Bad Guy Image': Former India Cricketer S Badrinath On Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Snub From Sri Lanka Series

Subramaniam Badrinath has taken a punt over the selection of the Indian squad for the upcoming white-ball series against Sri Lanka at home. The former India cricketer questioned the exclusion of Ruturaj Gaikwad saying that it seems that one needs to have a bad guy image to get a place in the roster.

Hyderabad: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka on Thursday. The series will commence Gautam Gambhir’s stint as the head coach of the national side. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were included in the squad despite the reports of both taking rest circulating in the media. Suryakumar Yadav was appointed as the captain of the T20I team.

The team also included maiden call-ups for Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma despite their doing well in the recent series against Zimbabwe. Also, Rinku Singh continues to wait on the sidelines in the 50-over format amidst the increasing demand for him to be included in the ODI side.

Ahead of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka, former Indian cricketer S Badrinath has made a controversial claim saying the players need to have a bad guy image to get a place in the national team. The statement from Badrinath was in Tamil which was translated by the users on X.

“Sometimes it seems like you need a bad guy image when the likes of Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and others are not selected for the Indian team. It seems that you need to be in a relationship with some Bollywood actresses, have a good media manager, and have body tattoos,” Badrinath said in the video clip doing rounds on social media.

Ruturaj had scores of 7,77 and 49 in three innings in the series against Zimbabwe but was still omitted from the squad despite a solid run.

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