India T20 WC Squad – Dinesh Karthik vs Rishabh Pant: The BIG DEBATE in Indian Cricket has started. Has Dinesh Karthik leapfrogged Rishabh Pant for spot in Indian TEAM for T20 World Cup in Australia. According to Sunil Gavaskar, Wasim Jaffer and Dale Steyn, Karthik at this stage has left Pant behind in RACE for spot in Indian team for World Cup: Follow Cricket News LIVE with InsideSport.IN
“I think DK has overlapped Rishabh Pant at least at the moment. I can’t say about the future, but at the moment you would pick DK any time in front of Rishabh Pant,” according to former India opener Wasim Jaffer.
INDIA T20 WC Squad: Has Dinesh Karthik ‘LEAPFROGGED’ Rishabh Pant in RACE for T20 World Cup spot? 3 EXPERTS says ‘YES’
Dinesh Karthik vs Pant: Selectors over next few weeks will keenly watch how both Karthik and Pant perform in remaining games before T20 World Cup.
India has a 2 match series against Ireland, 3 match T20 series each against England & the West Indies in next 2 months. The squad submission deadline is likely to be mid of September.
- India vs Ireland – 2 Matches – 26th June to 28th June
- India vs England – 3 Matches – 7th July to 10th July
- India vs West Indies – 3 Matches – 29th July to 2nd Aug
- Asia Cup T20 starts August 27th (Officially Dates still not released)
INDIA T20 WC Squad: Has Dinesh Karthik ‘LEAPFROGGED’ Rishabh Pant in RACE for T20 World Cup spot?
In the ongoing series against South Africa, Rishabh Pant started by scoring 29 runs in 16 balls in the first T20I. However, things went downhill from there on for the skipper, as he managed to score 5, 6, and 17 in the next three games.
On the other hand Karthik solidified his case, even more, stronger as the designated finisher of the Indian team.
The 37-year-old smashed 55 runs off just 27 balls in the fourth T20I against South Africa.
- Karthik was the best finisher in IPL 2022 season due to insane consistency. Be it the pressure of run-chase or setting up targets, the wicketkeeper-batter essayed every role to perfection.
- The RCB finisher finished the IPL 2022 on a high. He carried the same form into the SA T20 series
- In the five matches that the 37-year-old has played has scored 92 in four games.
- His strike rate of 158.62 is the second-best behind David Miller. Karthik has lived up to the tag of a finisher in the Blue jersey as well
- He has solidified his reputation as the dependable finisher of the Indian side
India T20 WC Squad – Has Rishabh Pant really delivered in T20 Cricket? The shocking stats below will tell you Pant really struggles in T20. He is yet to MASTER the format.
- Of all the nine Indian batters who have batted 40 or more times in T20Is, Pant’s average and strike rate is the worst.
- His average after the fourth T20I against South Africa now reads 23.12 in 41 innings.
- The southpaw’s strike is also a dismal 124.16 in 47 T20I matches.
- In the ongoing T20 series against South Africa, Pant has scores of 29, 5, 6, and 17.
- On all four occasions, he has got out chasing the wide ball outside off stump. Two times he has been dismissed by the SA spinner Keshav Maharaj.
“I think he had a pretty good IPL in terms of strike-rate even though it might not have looked good on averages. In IPL, he looked to move up a little bit (in terms of averages) and probably three years ago he was on those numbers. We are hoping that we can get those numbers from him at the international level.”, said Dravid when asked about Pant’s struggle in T20 format.
Pant’s is a high risk game that comes with a price and the coach is ready to pay the price looking at the bigger picture.
“In the process (of playing an attacking game), he might go wrong in a few games but he remains an integral part of our batting line-up with the power he has and the fact that he is a left-hander is important to us in the middle overs, he played some good knocks,” Dravid signed off.
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