Karthik did not feature in India’s loss to Pakistan on September 4.
Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar expressed surprise at Dinesh Karthik's omission from the Indian playing XI for the Asia Cup 2022 Super-4 clash against Pakistan.
On Sunday (September 4), Rishabh Pant was chosen over Karthik possibly to have a southpaw in the top 6, but he failed to impress, getting out for just 14.
Despite Virat Kohli's remarkable inning, the batters at the other end kept getting dismissed, limiting the team's total, which at one time was heading towards 200, to 181/7.
Gavaskar remarked that if Dinesh Karthik was being looked at as a first-choice finisher ahead of the T20 World Cup, he should have played the crucial match against the arch-rivals.
“Dropping Dinesh Karthik – that was something that was hard to understand. Here, you have already identified him as a finisher and in this big match, you don’t have him on your team. So that was a bit of a surprise,” he told India Today.
Despite the defeat, Kohli's return to form has given Indian fans much reason to celebrate. The flamboyant batter scored a sensational half-century (60 off 44 balls), his second consecutive in the Asia Cup 2022.
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The former cricketer-turned-commentator lauded the star batter and asserted that Virat’s return to form augurs well for the team.
“He was middling the ball from the first ball he faced. There were a couple of terrific shots, the pull shot was the best of them all, and even the flick for six to get to his fifty, there were some excellent shots. Most importantly, he was middling all the shots apart from one from the leg-spinner. Otherwise, everything was from the middle of the bat.
“That’s what gives batter confidence. It’s not the number of runs that you score, but how you batted, he has batted quite superbly in this game against Pakistan. That augurs really well for India in the matches to come,” he added.
The Men in Blue will now face Sri Lanka on Tuesday (September 06) at the Dubai International Stadium in a do-or-die encounter.
(INDIA TODAY INPUTS)