Dinesh Karthik is of the opinion that Team India should continue to field Rahul Tripathi as their number one. 3 in Twenty20 Internationals unless senior batter Virat Kohli returns to the team.
Karthik made the observation that the Men in Blue must have someone like Tripathi on their side in major ICC events during a discussion on Cricbuzz.
He praised the right-handed batter’s selflessness and stressed the significance of providing him with a long rope going forward.
Karthik elaborated on Tripathi’s powerful performances, saying:
“Whenever that third spot in the Indian team becomes available, Rahul Tripathi is deserving of it. It is acceptable for Virat Kohli to play. Tripathi should be the first choice if Kohli is absent, not someone else who has performed well elsewhere. He is a very good player who is also doing something very selfless, which is what India needs to get ready for ICC tournaments.”
Tripathi has recently established itself as the fastest-growing intent merchant in India.
He improved in the third and final match of the recently concluded T20I series against New Zealand after struggling to get going in the first two.
During the T20I series decider in Ahmedabad on February 1, the dynamic batsman blew the Kiwi bowlers away with 44 runs off 22 balls.
“We shouldn’t forget that” – Dinesh Karthik on the goal of Rahul Tripathi
Dinesh Karthik went on to say that Rahul Tripathi might be overlooked in favor of other people because he has only appeared in cameos.
However, he emphasized that Tripathi’s presence at his appearances should not be overlooked. Even though he was aware that the batter’s career was in jeopardy, Karthik praised the batter for attacking from the beginning.
The seasoned goalkeeper-batsman added:
“At some point in time, the names that will take Rahul Tripathi’s place will be big. Therefore, we might simply consider the scores and conclude that he only scored 30 and 40. Let’s be very, very aware of the circumstance in which he acted, as well as the purpose and context of each time he entered.”
So far in his career, Tripathi has only played in five T20I matches. He has scored 97 runs with a remarkable strike rate of 144.8. He has consistently scored 1798 runs in 74 innings in the Indian Premier League (IPL).