ENG v IND 2018: Gautam Gambhir backs Dinesh Karthik for Trent Bridge Test, says Rishabh can wait

India will play England in the Third Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday (18 August).

Dinesh Karthik. (Getty)

Gautam Gambhir still believes that Dinesh Karthik should be given more opportunities with the gloves in the Indian Test team despite his failure in the first and second Test against England both with the bat as well. 

His comment came after many cricket experts voiced for Pant's inclusion in the Indian XI  for the third Test at Trent Bridge. Karthik has had continuous failures with the bat and has mustered just 21 runs in his four innings. 

Gambhir further added that the Delhi lad can wait as Pant has a lot of years ahead of him, but Karthik cannot make a comeback if he is now dropped from the team. 

Gambhir told Times of India on Friday (17 August), “There will always be a temptation to play Pant. I still feel that Dinesh Karthik is at that stage of his career, it’s now or never. So you got to always give someone an extra Test match than one lesser. People would be expecting for him to deliver with the amount of comebacks he’s made but those conditions are tough.”

Noteworthy, the premier wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha's untimely injury has given opportunity to Karthik for the Test series against England, but the 33-year old failed to impress, averaging just 5.25 in four innings with the bat so far in the series. Keeping his display in England in mind, Gambhir still believes that Karthik deserves fair chances to prove himself with both gloves and bat in Tests.

He signed off by saying, “If you don’t give him an opportunity in the next Test match or one more after that, we might never see him again. Rishabh can wait. He has a lot of years ahead of him. Because six innings, to be honest, can give you a better idea where the batter is."

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 18 Aug, 2018

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