As India’s T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav addressed the media in a pre-match press conference, ahead of the first T20I against South Africa on Thursday, he had to answer some tricky questions. One such question was on the absence of Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad from India’s T20I side. Over the last year or so, Gaikwad has emerged as one of the finest batters across all formats. Be it red-ball or white-ball cricket, Gaikwad’s performances in India’s domestic spectrum have impressed one and all. Yet, he continues to be on the sidelines when it comes to national selection.

Suryakumar, when asked about Gaikwad’s absence from the team, highlighted the fact that there remain a lot of young and talented players who deserve national selection. But, the team management’s process, has to be respected and followed when it comes to giving those deserving players opportunitites.

“Rutu (Ruturaj) is a fantastic player. He has been performing consistently across all formats, wherever he plays. There are a lot of players who have been performing well even before him, so there is a routine or process that I think that the management has come up with, so it is important to follow that,” the Indian captain commented.

“He is young and is doing well. I feel, uska bhi number aayega. Uska bhi time aayega. (His time will also come),” said Suryakumar.

Gaikwad featured for India in the T20I series against Zimbabwe this year, scoring 133 runs at an average of 66.50 and a strike-rate of 158.33.

He is the captain of CSK in the IPL and also led the India C team in the Duleep Trophy. He was also named the skipper of the Rest of India team for the Irani Cup this year. Gaikwad is also the captain of the India A team that is in Australia at present for an unofficial Test series.

While it is understood that Gaikwad is highly valued in the Indian domestic spectrum, he still seems to be missing something, from national selection point of view.