Rahul Tewatia's tweet after being ignored from India T20I squad for Ireland series takes social media by storm

Rahul Tewatia had a very good IPL, winning at least a couple of matches single-handedly with the bat for the eventual champions but the selectors decided to keep a largely similar side to the one that is currently taking on South Africa in a five-match T20I series barring the change in leadership from Rishabh Pant to Hardik Pandya.

Rahul Tewatia's "expectations hurt" tweet after not finding his name in the Indian squad selected for the two-match T20I series in Ireland later this month, took social media by storm. The Gujarat Titans all-rounder had a very good IPL, winning at least a couple of matches single-handedly with the bat for the eventual champions but the selectors decided to keep a largely similar side to the one that is currently taking on South Africa in a five-match T20I series barring the change in leadership from Rishabh Pant to Hardik Pandya.

Rahul Tewatia  (BCCI)

"Expectations hurt," tweeted Tewatia along with a couple of sad emojis a few hours after BCCI announced a 17-member squad for the Ireland T20Is.

Tewatia received a lot of support from fans. Many wished him luck and said he will soon don the Indian colours.

The attacking left-handed batter, who is also a handy leg-spin bowler, scored 217 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 147.62 in IPL 2022.

Tewatia played many useful cameos for GT but none more special than his Hoodini Act against Punjab Kings. He hit PBKS pacer Odean Smith for two consecutive sixes when 12 runs were required off 2 balls to take Gujarat to a six-wicket victory.

Tewatia's incredible show had even earned him the tag of 'ice man' from none other than the great Sunil Gavaskar. "What is running through his veins? It's not blood. Ice! Rahul Tewatia should be nicknamed iceman. If there was anybody who was going to take Gujarat home, it was going to be Tewatia. It was in his arc. He likes to go outside the off stump and play that shot, we've seen him do that," the former India captain had said.

In another match-winning effort a few days later, Tewatia smashed an unbeaten 40 off 21 balls when GT needed 56 in the last four overs to take his side to victory.

The only new face in the side is Maharashtra right-hand batter Rahul Tripathi, who was rewarded for his stellar batting during this edition of IPL where he scored more than 400 runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Pandya, who is Rishabh Pant's deputy in the current T20I series against South Africa, was elevated to the leadership role and will join the Test squad in England after the completion of the home series.

Two other cricketers - Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav made a comeback to the Indian side. Suryakumar was out with an injury while Samson was surprisingly ignored for the home series against South Africa.