Team India’s decision to play Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant as the wicket-keeper against Pakistan left a few scratching their heads. When India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was asked to shed light on the decision, he left the journalists in splits with his answer.
Pant remains one of the finest attack-minded batters in Indian cricket at present but he hasn’t been able to fulfill his potential in T20 internationals for India. On the contrary, Karthik has done really well in the role of a finisher of late, producing some inspiring knocks. Hence, he was preferred for the wicket-keeper’s role in the team in the Asia Cup 2022 match against Pakistan ahead of Pant.
As Jadeja arrived to attend the press conference on the eve of India’s second match of the continental tournament against Hong Kong, he was asked to elaborate on the reason behind Pant’s absence. However, Jadeja washed his hands saying this is a question that is out of the syllabus for him
“I absolutely don’t know this. This is a question out of my book,” he said. Here’s the video of the incident from the press conference:
There are a few who have criticised the team management’s decision to bench Pant. But, there are those too who have welcomed the promotion of Karthik.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was one of those who had criticised the decision to bench Pant. He had told broadcaster Star Sports: “I won’t experiment from now on because how many games do we have… this Asia Cup? And then you’ve got what… five more games, six more games and then the World Cup. From now on, you want a settled Playing XI. Yes, you can have your backups as well but that is the way I would have wanted. It is a bit of a surprise because Rishabh Pant has been an X-factor.”
Harbhajan Singh, on the other hand, welcomed the decision while speaking to Aaj Tak, saying: “Rishabh Pant, no doubt, has done very well even in Test cricket and one-dayers. He has been very good. But in this shortest format, he has not been an accomplished player. However, if you look at Dinesh Karthik, his graph is only going upward. He has performed well. This is the right decision. In this format, in this form, there is no use keeping him on the bench. It’s time for Dinesh Karthik to play, he should play.”
