WI v IND 2023: Dinesh Karthik opines on possibility of Mukesh Kumar's Test debut in Trinidad

India is 1-0 up in two-Test series and will play second Test vs West Indies in Trinidad.

Mukesh Kumar | GettyIndia batter-keeper Dinesh Karthik has opined on whether Indian team would make any changes to their combination for the upcoming second Test against West indies which will be played at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad from July 20, 2023.

Indian team has had a five-day break after wining the first Test in Dominica by an innings and 141 runs. But considering the fact that this TEst against West Indies, will be India's last before their next Test match against South Africa right at the end of this year, there are chances of someone new making his debut.

That some one could be pace Mukesh Kumar, who is waiting in the wings to get a chance to impress everyone on the international stage.

Now Dinesh Karthik has opined on the same and said India won't make any changes to their XI for the second Test.

"India won't make any changes be it their mindset, skillset or playing XI. They will bring the same brand of cricket to the table. They have been very strong, very sure about what they want. The Ashwin-Jadeja combo has done wonders. Debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal has done well. There is no room for a change unless there's a change. They have had a five-day break. In the Caribbean, you generally go to the beaches and that's what they must've done for the first two-three days and then they would've practiced for two days," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

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Karthik further added that West Indies need to get rid of the mental block against India, which has played a part of them not beating India in any Test since 2002.

"This becomes an even more important one for West Indies because they haven't won a Test against since 2002. That's almost two decades. They would want to turn that around but they have a mental block against India. They need to find a way to sort that out. Do they need to make some changes? There's fast bowler, Shannon Gabriel, do they bring him in place of one of the seamers or do they strengthen their batting by dropping an extra seamer? Kirk McKenzie is an option," Karthik added.

"What West Indies need to bring is a lot of fire. They are capable of that. Under Kraigg Brathwaite, they have done a few special things, they need to draw confidence from them. They need to draw belief from that. Somewhere they have lost it in their mind before the Test started and this is not how international cricket should be played. I think they know that they are a much better team than the performance they have put in in the last Test," he said.

(Cricbuzz inputs)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 20 Jul, 2023

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