"Need To Pick Between Dinesh Karthik Or Rishabh Pant": Ex-India Selector's Big Statement

The T20 World Cup is just around the corner and the team management must be sweating on who to pick and who to leave out. Team India have managed to create a solid pool, and in order to manage the workload of senior players, several youngsters have gotten the chance to prove themselves. However, Dinesh Karthik's story is completely different. He made a comeback into the national side on the back of strong performances in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The 37-year-old batter has managed to make the finisher job his very own, but due to underwhelming returns in the last few T20Is against West Indies, several pundits are questioning his place. Now, former India selector Saba Karim has said that the selectors need to pick between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik and once one player is decided, it would be easier to slot in Suryakumar Yadav at No.4.

“Yes, you better need to sort it out as soon as possible. But you know what, to fix the No. 4 slot or the number four position for specific player, we need to get the combination and balance of the side correct. When I say this I mean they need to pick between Dinesh Kartik or Rishabh Pant. Once you decide on either of these player, it'll get easy to sort in Suryakumar Yadav at number four," said Saba Karim on SPORTS18's daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP'.

Karim also feels that India might be better served to go with five bowlers and Hardik Pandya as their sixth option.

“I feel that to get the balance right, India has done well with five bowlers plus Hardik Pandya as a 6 bowling options. So would you like to break that kind of a combination and get in another bat at number 7 that is Dinesh Karthik at number 7? That means that you go in with Hardik Pandya the fifth bowler who is expected to bowl 4 overs, so that is another big call from the Indian team management," said Karim. 

"So then if so that that may pose some issues for the Indian team management. Whatever I have seen from Rohit Sharma's captaincy, I think he prefers to have five regular bowlers plus Hardik Pandya as their six bowling option. If that is the case then you need to decide between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik," he added. 

In the series against West Indies, Karthik scored 66 runs in five matches while Pant returned with 115 runs in four games. 

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Rishabh Pant Dinesh Karthik Syed Saba Karim Hardik Pandya Asia Cup, 2022 Cricket