Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev has said that the Indian team now needs to bring in Rishabh Pant into their XI for the remaining T20 World Cup 2022 matches as he felt Dinesh Karthik’s keeping was not up to mark.

Karthik has been preferred for the keeping-finisher job in the Indian team for the first two matches of the tournament, while Rishabh Pant has been warming the bench.

But ahead of the fixture against South Africa in Perth on Sunday, former India captain Kapil Dev believes that Pant needs to get a look-in given Karthik's questionable wicket-keeping.

The veteran keeper has been assigned the job thanks to his finishing abilities with the bat, which came to the fore in the IPL 2022. Since then he has played some match-winning cameos for India. But under the pressure situation against Pakistan, he erred with the bat, and his keeping was found wanting as well against the Netherlands.

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"I want to say that since we have Rishabh Pant, now is the time India need him. It felt as if Dinesh Karthik would get the job done, but factoring in the wicketkeeping as well, I feel that if India have that left-hander option in the team, this team would look complete," Kapil said on ABP News.

Kapil Dev also backed under-fire opener KL Rahul to come good against South Africa in Perth where the ball comes onto the bat, something the Karnataka opener loves. He has scored 4 and 9 against Pakistan and Netherlands respectively and many speculate that Rishabh Pant might come in as an opener for Rahul if he fails one more time.

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"He is a very neat cricketer. If you look at his batting, he doesn't appear to be struggling. He gets out and has in fact, played on twice or thrice. I want him to score runs because it is really important for him to score. Some players are told not to play fast. He can take time initially because he can easily accelerate as and when needed. I want him to play patiently, play the first 8-10 overs, and then when he gets an idea what total is best on the pitch, then go for it," mentioned Kapil.

India faces South Africa in Perth on October 30^th.