An injury-hit Team India had to make a tough decision by benching Dinesh Karthik for the Super 4 clash in the Asia Cup against Pakistan on Sunday. The veteran wicketkeeper-batter stormed into the Indian team after IPL 2022 with a reputation of a genuine finisher.
Karthik has also played a few incredible knocks since his international comeback and looked set to be an irreplaceable figure in the playing XI at No.7. However, an untimely injury to Ravindra Jadeja and the lack of spin options in the side have forced Team India to think out of the box.
Jadeja was promoted to No.4 against Pakistan last Sunday to neutralize the threat of left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz and the leg-spin of Shadab Khan. The move worked wonders as Pakistan skipper Babar Azam had to hold back Nawaz and make him bowl the final over when he had no other choice.
With Jadeja injured, the Men in Blue had no option but to play Rishabh Pant because they might not have enough trust in Axar Patel's batting. With Hardik Pandya also coming back after missing the Hong Kong clash, Dinesh Karthik was the unlucky one to miss out.
Fans on Twitter were furious to see Karthik miss out despite not doing much wrong in the Asia Cup. They also slammed the management for backing an out-of-form KL Rahul over the veteran finishere. Here are some of the reactions:
Pakistan ask Team India into bat first
Skipper Babar Azam won the toss and had no hesitation in putting Rohit Sharma and Co. to bat first, citing the arrival of dew later in the game. The pitch also seems to be a bit two-paced, so it will be interesting to see if the Men in Blue stick to their approach of ultra-attacking cricket.
Lineups:
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Pakistan XI: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Muhammad Hasnain
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