ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Five reasons why Dinesh Karthik is the ideal replacement for Manish Pandey

Provides flexibility

Yuvraj and Dhoni will have the luxury of playing in their preferred positions

One of the issues that India have is that a lot of their batsmen are good at a certain position and can’t really play more than one role effectively. Virat Kohli is arguably the best No.3 in the world, Rohit Sharma, one of the best openers and the duo of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni are excellent finishers.

The addition of Dinesh Karthik affords the captain flexibility in the batting order as he can play anywhere in the top six. Although he is primarily seen as a middle-order batsman, he has batted from No.1 to No.7 for India and has the skill set to serve as a backup opener, able middle-order understudy or even a finisher.

With a plethora of finishers in the likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj, Jadhav and Pandya, the addition of someone who brings something different to the table and play innovative shots as well can only be a good thing.play innovative shots as well can only be a good thing.

In case of any injury or need for change, Karthik can slot right in as he can play a variety of roles. The fact that he is in good nick as well only bodes well for his chance of success in the role that he is asked to perform.