While the both bowling and batting departments looks all but sorted in the ongoing Asia Cup for team India, former skipper Sourav Ganguly wants one change in the batting unit in the form of KL Rahul replacing Dinesh Karthik. Ganguly expressed concern of the state of balance the current batting lineup has which sees Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik striving to cement their place in the team while Dhoni’s batting prowess seem to be fading away.
“The one thing that scares me a bit is that the World cup is not far away while the Indian batting sans Kohli looks vulnerable. Dinesh Karthik’s career is on the wane, MS is not in his prime anymore, Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu are making comebacks. So if you are playing four such batsmen who are not settled in this format and not a certainty in the team then it looks like the selectors are compromising with quality in the team. So the mindset needs to change,” Ganguly said.
“I respect all the players in the current team as I myself have played the game for a long time but I still feel that India should have gone for Rahul instead of Karthik. In England, everyone saw that Karthik couldn’t score runs. And if you are looking to build a team for the World Cup, Rahul and Rishabh Pant’s name should come before Karthik’s. The latter deserves to be in the team only if he is the wicket-keeper as well, otherwise, Rahul is a far better player than him. His career is on the wane,” Ganguly added while explaining the reason behind giving Rahul a run in the team in place of Karthik.
In the three matches that he has featured in at the Asia Cup, Karthik has scored 1*, 31* and 33, having been dismissed only against Bangladesh.
