"It's hard to leave him"- Sunil Gavaskar names one Indian star who should have been in Indian squad for Ireland T20Is

After wrapping up the five-match T20I home series against South Africa, India will start their overseas tour, which will run for more than three months. But the first series will be against Ireland. India will play two T20 internationals against the Irish team on June 26 and June 28, respectively.

The BCCI has already announced a 17-member squad for the T20Is and most of the names are from the squad against South Africa. But Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripahthi have been added to the squad who were not part of the South African series.

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer will join the Test team for the one-off rescheduled test, so they are not part of the squad. Hardik Pandya has been given the role of skipper, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his deputy. It will be a great opportunity for the Indian players to prove their worth and feature in the squad for the upcoming World Cup.

But one player who did an amazing job in the IPL 2022 was unfortunate to not get the chance to be in the team. Rahul Tewatia, who emerged as one of the great white-ball finishers, was one of the notable name that didn't feature in the side.

Former Indian legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar feels that Tewatia should have been given a chance against Ireland. In a discussion on Star Sports after the fifth T20I between India and South Africa got abandoned, Gavaskar said that Tewatia is an "ice man" and said that it happens sometimes when you feel that instead of 15, you could have added one more player.

He also said that Tewatia was superb in the IPL and won the match that looked totally lost because the left-hander went in and hit the ball very brilliantly. So it was very hard on him to leave after doing well in the tournament. 

Gavaskar concluded, "Somebody showing that kind of temperament, maybe add a 16th man and take him to Ireland. Just recognising what he has done. Just giving that message, ‘you are on the fringe, just work a little bit harder'."

Indian Squad for T20Is against Ireland: Hardik Pandya (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Tripathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel.