Mumbai 28th August : India batter Cheteshwar Pujara believes it’s impossible be able to have both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the playing XI for the Asia Cup, given the India team’s management is not likely to make any changes in the top orderwhich includes KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.the duo is recognized for their specific roles in the team. India will face Pakistan in the Asia Cup opener in Dubai on Sunday, with the former keen to avenge their loss of 10 wickets against arch-rivals in the ICC T20 World Cup at the same venue last year.
Pant is a left-handed player and is more of a floating player in the side due to of his versatility as well as Karthik is well-known for his role as a finisher.
With KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja as the obvious selections, Pujara believes there is an opportunity in either of Pant or Karthik in the team to play in the Asia Cup, and he prefers to choose to go with the former as the wicketkeeper-batter has an option of “left-right combination” with the bat.
“It’s (choosing between Pant and Karthik) an enormous problem for team management since both are doing extremely excellent in T20 format.The question is whether you need somebody to bat at No.5 or you’re looking for an experienced player who is able to bat at No.6, 7.Therefore, I’d suggest that if you’re looking for someone who is at the lower end of the spectrum.5 Rishabh Pant is the better choice.If you want have a batting line-up with a superb finisher who will play 20 or 10 balls and score 40-50 runs, I believe DK (Karthik) is the better choice,” said Pujara on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:out.
“Personally I’m thinking with the team’s the management (and) being aware of how things function within the team, I’d say they’d choose to decide to go with Pant since he is a left-handed player who provides the team with some of equilibrium with left-right combo,” added Pujara.
Some cricket experts are suggesting an overhaul in the top order in which Suryakumar Yadav is dropped to make room for Pant as well as Karthik, Pujara felt, it’s impossible to let ‘SKY’ go, due to his outstanding performances in T20 cricket.
“Surya is one of our top T20 players, and I would definitely like him in the side as he is able to.he is one of the players who has performed very excellently for Mumbai Indinas (in IPL).When I’ve seen him in the No.4 he has performed exceptionally well.Therefore, I don’t believe that the management of the team will decide to leave him out.If Rishabh and Karthik both need to play, then you must drop one of the top order (batters) and that’s impossible.Therefore, I don’t believe both of them will make it into the playing XI.” Pujara’s opinion was echoed by.
On who will take on the role of finisher in the event that Karthik does not appear in the XI that plays, Pujara said Hardik Pandya is able to do the job well, considering that he has done the job in the past for Gujarat Titans.
“I would rather Hardik for the (finisher’s) role as he is a player who can strike off ball one.His strike rate is over 150.I don’t believe Rishabh can perform that role because he requires a bit more time.If he (Rishabh) is called in to bat at all, it should be between 10-12 overs.and when he achieves 8-10 overs he could score 50 or more,” added Pujara.
Pujara’s playing XI for Pakistan clash: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
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