Veteran Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik came out in support of the under-fire Rishabh Pant after he was rested from the series ahead of India’s opening match of the ongoing three-match ODI series against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Sunday (December 4).
Pant’s place in the Indian cricket team has been under serious scrutiny after his series of poor performances with the bat in limited-overs cricket this year, particularly in T20Is. The 25-year-old was part of India’s ODI squad, but the Men in Blue picked KL Rahul as wicket-keeper for the first ODI against Bangladesh as Pant was relieved from the squad on medical advice.
Well, Karthik said that the left-hander needs to be given the opportunity to go out and perform, stressing that his numbers are not that bad in ODI cricket, so he deserves to be backed by the team. He also said people should not judge a cricketer on the basis of his performance in one format, insisting it is unfair.
Dinesh Karthik was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz: “We need to look at it separately. In one-day cricket in the last 10 innings, he averages 45-plus. He obviously got the match-winning score of 120 (125 not out) in the recently concluded series in England. So, he's done very well for himself and when someone has done very well for himself, you cannot look at him and say 'Oh he should be from one-day cricket'.”
Urging the team management not to move on from Pant, the veteran cricketer said: “I think, you know, you need to give him the opportunity to be out there and do well and if he doesn't do well, then move on. But you can't just move away because he has done something else in another format.”
Karthik signed off by saying, “I think that's something that's unfair to the player as well. I think because of the amount of cricket, especially T20 that is played, obviously, they are comparing that and adding those scores and saying, 'Oh, he hasn't done well'. That's not how we need to look at things.”
