BCCI named Dinesh Karthik as the replacement for injured Wriddhiman Saha for the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting from June 14 in Bengaluru. 

Karthik, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the second Qualifier of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 and had an impressive outing in the last South Africa series, is the top contender for the slot, even gets backing from Wasim Jaffer and former Test captain Dilip Vengsarkar for the role in the upcoming England series as well. 

They also believe that Karthik is a better option as compared to Murali Vijay to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan. Thus he can both play as a keeper and a batsman as well. If needed they feel the keeping responsibilities than can be shared between Saha and Karthik himself. 

As per reports in Times of India, Jaffer said, “He is much experienced and mellowed down considerably even more after leading Kolkata Knight Riders recently. Not only batting, but even his keeping has improved. He understands his game better. But now he is a very good option to have in the squad.”

While Vengsarkar said, “He is a great team man. There was never a question over his batting abilities. He can open the batting for India on merit. He is in such fantastic form.”

On the other hand, Jaffer picked Karthik ahead of Shikhar Dhawan to open the innings for India, as he believes that the opener still has to prove himself abroad.

He signed off by saying, “KL Rahul appears to be in good. Shikhar Dhawan still has to prove himself abroad and Murali Vijay of late is not displaying the same confidence as he earlier did. Karthik is definitely a better option in this scenario.”