Five Indian players who should be considered for the ODI and T20I series against Australia

Dinesh Karthik

The curious case of Dinesh Karthik

What does one need to cement his spot in the middle order of the Indian ODI side? Dinesh Karthik had a brilliant 2016/17 domestic season that saw him dominate each and every single bowling unit in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy in which he scored a combined total of 854 runs at an average of 85.4 and a strike-rate of over 105.

Adding to this, he also scored over 700 runs in the Ranji Trophy and was one of Gujarat Lions' best players in the IPL. In spite of doing so well in the last eight months, he has been in and out of the Indian team. He was called in as a replacement for Manish Pandey in the ICC Champions Trophy and was included in the Indian squad for the West Indies tour before he was omitted from the squad that toured Sri Lanka.

He scored an unbeaten fifty in the last ODI innings he played. With India's middle order in a limbo, Karthik's inclusion will make things better as he is the ideal candidate for the number 4 position and he deserves to be given a run at the spot as a reward for his heroics in the Indian domestic circuit.