Dinesh Karthik Will Be Part Of India’s World Cup Squad, Feels KKR’s Assistant Coach Simon Katich
Mar 15, 2019 at 10:14 AM
Dinesh Karthik has made oodles of comebacks to the international team for more than 10 years now but his latest comeback in 2017 was a different one. He became a finisher for team India and did the job in a number of games that he played in.
The changed Dinesh Karthik, though, this time was not given a long run as the team management continued the policy of changing and chopping.
It recently saw him being dropped from the ODI squad for the series against Australia, that also put doubts over his place in the squad for World Cup 2019.
Still, the race is open and Karthik can make it to the squad if he performs well in IPL.
The T20 tournament will be a crucial one for him considering that there is still a spot left in the team.
The race is between Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant, who are the only two contenders for the post.
Amidst this, Simon Katich, the assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, has said that Karthik will be in the mix for World Cup as he is an experienced player.
“I think what Dinesh brings in his experience (in crunch situations). He has played that role very well for India and for us. You know what you will get from him down the innings. He is hard to bowl to. So he will be in the mix for the World Cup. It will give the Indian selectors a tough job to pick with so much talent around,” Katich said.
Stats show that Dinesh Karthik has been the go-to man for India when it comes to finishing games as he has finished eight matches since his comeback.
The famous Nidahas Trophy final is also a prime example of how Karthik has changed as a batsman since making his comeback to the side and should be a backup to MS Dhoni.
Karthik made his comeback to the national team in 2017 for ICC Champions Trophy, where he replaced an injured Manish Pandey.
He was dropped for Sri Lanka tour but made a comeback again. He was again dropped for West Indies series in 2018 but went to Australia and New Zealand.
When it was the time to give him another ago, selectors again dropped Karthik, giving a chance to Rishabh Pant.
He (Rishabh) hasn’t done well in the ODI format and Karthik’s experience can certainly work in his favour.
Though IPL will play a major role in deciding which of these two players will be part of the Indian team for the tournament.