Dinesh Karthik made his comeback to the ODI side and he trumped none other than RishabhPant to book his place in the World Cup squad that was announced an hour back.
When Karthik was dropped from the ODI team for the home series against Australia, it seemed like selectors have made their mind on Rishabh Pant.
However, the youngster got dropped from the side and made way for the experienced man, whose wicketkeeping skills got him a place in the team.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reacted to the team selection and called Karthik’s inclusion in the squad ‘surprising’.
Also, he blamed selectors for not being consistent with him. Here’s what Manjrekar tweeted –
It’s impossible to keep everyone happy with team selections but Karthik inclusion surprising. Selectors guilty of showing no consistency in his case. Discarded after Jan 2019 to select straight for the WC. Shankar is a lucky man to make it. #CricketLive #StarSports
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 15, 2019
Karthik had made his comeback to India’s ODI squad for ICC Champions Trophy where he replaced an injured Manish Pandey.
He got dropped after two series but made a comeback again.
He wasn’t a regular layer in playing XI but made most out of limited chances, in which he also finished off games.
Karthik’s performance in the final of Nidahas Trophy, where he scored 29* off 8, saw him become a new finisher for team India.
He also made his comeback to Test side in 2018 but got dropped after England tour.
Manjrekar termed Shankar as a lucky man in his tweet.
It can be said that he was lucky but Shankar did his best to keep his place in the squad even after Hardik Pandya made his return.
He did well with the bat on occasions and showed that he can bat as per the situation, that saw him get a place in the squad instead of Ambati Rayudu.
Since Rayudu is not in the squad now, Shankar might be given a permanent duty to bat at number four to provide the stability to the team.
He can always chip in with few overs but doesn’t have the speed that Hardik Pandya has.
Ravindra Jadeja was the other player who was a surprise pick.
Instead of picking a fourth pacer, selectors picked a third spinner.
Jadeja can also prove handy with the bat, that is not the case with either of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.