Rashid Latif Picked India’s Number 1 Wicket-Keeper For Ireland T20Is: India is having a surplus of wicket-keeping options who are making claims for a place in the T20I side showing their batting upsides.
While Rishabh Pant still remains the first-choice keeper-batsman, Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik have made strong cases for their inclusion in India’s best eleven; apart from that Sanju Samson has been given a recall for the upcoming Ireland tour.
Although Kishan is pigeonholed as a backup opener for now, when Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are fit and available, it would be difficult for the management to leave out the young left-hander who has been in prolific form. Dinesh Karthik, coming off a staggering IPL season has continued his superb touch as a finisher in the South Africa series as doubts have been raised over Pant’s position in the T20I eleven given his lack of a big score right from the IPL earlier this year.
Rashid Latif picks Dinesh Karthik over Samson, Kishan
Former Pakistani captain Rashid Latif, a renowned pundit now, lavished rich praises for Karthik’s form – DK smashed 330 runs in the IPL for RCB at a strike rate of 183 and has scored 92 runs vs South Africa at 158 including a match-winning knock of 55 in 27 balls.
Sanju Samson, who was dropped for the South Africa T20Is, had a decent IPL – 458 runs at strike rate of 146 – but wasn’t stunning by any means.
Speaking on the YouTube channel Caught Behind, Rashid Latif opined that Karthik has “has got perfect” numbers for a lower-order batsman and should be the first-choice keeper on the Ireland tour later in the month.
“Wicketkeepers are performing really well in world cricket at the moment. Samson has been performing really well, but is a top-order batter. But when you look at lower middle order options, you have Dinesh Karthik.
“The numbers he has got are perfect to have him in playing XI. It’s rare. And he showed it during his matches for RCB, batting with highest strike rate down the order. You will find very few wicketkeepers who can do that in T20s. Karthik will be the one I will pick for the XI,” Latif stated.
India squad for Ireland T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
