Impossible to play both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik
Impossible to play both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik: Due to the fact that India’s top-order has been solidified, the Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara believes that it is “difficult” for the squad to select both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the playing XI for the Asia Cup T20 competition.
K.L. Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar Yadav make up the top order. According to Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav is one of India’s best Twenty20 batsmen at the moment. They are then followed by players such as Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, which leaves room for only one player to choose between Pant and Karthik.
“It’s a great difficulty for the team management as both (Pant and Karthik) are doing pretty well in the Twenty20 format,” said Pant. “It’s a tremendous headache for the team management.” If you want someone to bat at No. 5 or whether you want a finisher who can bat at No. 6 or 7, that is the call,” Pujara remarked on an ESPNcricinfo show.
Therefore, if you are looking for someone to fill the spot at number five, I would recommend Rishabh Pant. However, if you want a batting line-up that includes a very good finisher who is likely to play 10 or 20 balls and deliver you 40 or 50 runs, I believe that DK (Karthik) is the superior option.
The experienced batter continued by saying, “Personally, I think, knowing the team management (and) knowing how things work around the team, I would imagine they might go with Pant since he is a left-hander and provides the squad a bit of balance with a left-right combo.”
On Sunday, India will open their campaign in the Asia Cup by taking on Pakistan. India is eager to avenge the 10-wicket loss that they suffered at the hands of their archrivals during the ICC T20 World Cup that was held at the same location a year ago.
Given his outstanding performance in Twenty20 cricket over the past few years, Pujara believes that Suryakumar should not be dropped from the XI to make room for either Pant or Karthik because he deserves to be there and should not be dropped to accommodate both of them.
Statements
“Surya is one of our best Twenty20 players, and because of that, I would absolutely want him to be a part of the side because of… He is someone who has been tremendously helpful to the Mumbai Indians in their efforts (in IPL). He has always performed incredibly well whenever I’ve seen him at position No. 4, in my experience.
Therefore, I seriously doubt that the team’s management will decide to bench him. If Rishabh and Karthik both need to play, then I believe you will need to bench one of the batters in the top order, which is obviously not an option. According to Pujara, “I don’t think either one of them can make it into the playing XI.”
In the case that Karthik is unable to participate, all-rounder, Hardik has the potential to perform the job of a finisher, according to Pujara.
“I would choose Hardik for that (finisher’s job) because he is someone who can strike from ball one and his strike rate is above 150. If I had to choose between the two, I would go with Hardik.” Because Rishabh requires a little bit more time, I do not believe he is able to do the task.
And if Rishabh comes in to bat, it should be anywhere between 10 and 12 overs by the time he does so… “And if he gets 8–10 overs, he can score a 50 or perhaps a little bit more than that,” Pujara remarked.