Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at experts who have expressed that Dinesh Karthik should not be a part of the Indian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. He stated that a player should be selected on form and not reputation.
Recently, Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir had said that if Dinesh Karthik is not going to be in the XI, there is no point keeping him in the squad. However, Sunil Gavaskar disagrees with Gautam Gambhir. Dinesh Karthik, on Friday, slammed his maiden T20I century.
The veteran cricketer scored 55 runs off 27 balls, to take India 169 runs in the first innings. India eventually won the match by 82 runs equalling the series scoreline of 2-2 after the fourth T20I. Speaking at the post-match show on Star Sports, Gavaskar said that Dinesh Karthik could be the guy for India at the T20 World Cup. He stated,
“I know people are talking about how can you include him in the team when he’s not going to play. How do you see he’s not going to be able to play? He could be the guy you want. You look at the form and not reputations, names and then you pick the guy.”
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Showed great character, determination, and sense of purpose: Sunil Gavaskar showers praise on Dinesh Karthik
The former cricketer added that Dinesh Karthik bats lower down the order and contribute important runs. So far, the wicket-keeper batter has scored 92 runs in four innings at an average of 46 and a strike rate of 158.62.
“He (Dinesh Karthik) doesn’t get too many opportunities, bats at No. 6 and 7. You can’t expect him to get 50 regularly. He’ll get you a good 40 in 20 deliveries and that’s what he has been doing consistently. He the exactly the same thing again and that is the reason why he’s very much in contention for a place in the World Cup squad. The way he got runs today, India were down and out,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
“It showed great character, showed great determination and showed great sense of purpose. He’s desperate to play for India again. I think that might be his swansong. I know there’s a 50-overs World Cup next year and he might want to be available for that as well. But whatever it is, don’t look at the man’s age, look at the performances,” he added.
The fifth T20I between India and South Africa will take place on Sunday, June 19 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
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