'You need a bad guy image...', Badrinath's epic dig at selectors over Gaikwad's omission from SL series

 July 21 (IANS) Former India cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath has made a scathing attack on selectors after the snub of Ruturaj Gaikwad from Sri Lanka series and Rinku Singh's omission form the ODI leg despite their strong performances in the series against Zimbabwe earlier this month. On Thursday, the selectors announced the 15-member squads for upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and Gaikwad wasn't selected for either T20Is or ODIs while Rinku retained his place in the T20Is. After Gaikwad's exclusion, Badrinath shared a video on his social media, suggesting that cricketers may require more than just exceptional performances to secure a position in the Indian squad. He also implied that having relationships with certain Bollywood actresses and sporting tattoos might be necessary for players to be consistently chosen in the squad. "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 could be heard as saying in the video. Gaikwad recorded scores of 7, 77, and 49 in three innings against Zimbabwe and was subsequently rested for the final T20I of the series. Meanwhile, Rinku also played crucial cameos in the Zimbabwe T20Is. --IANS bc/