After India crashed out of the Asia Cup, the debates about opting for Rishabh Pant over Dinesh Karthik have amplified and the Indian management is still looking for a reason to justify their choice. Much to the management’s woes, Pant returned absolutely minimal figures in both the contests and got out to clueless strokes.
India suffered a good 10-runs short in the end that cost them dearly in both the games which resulted in their elimination from the Continental extravaganza. The fans have reason to believe that Dinesh Karthik was a man in form and was tailor-made for those specific situations. Dropping him to choose Pant whose numbers in the shortest format of the game have been a spot of bother was pretty weird. Here are three reasons why choosing Pant was an extremely unwise move from the Men in Blue.
#1 Dinesh Karthik is a man in form
Ever since his return to the international arcade, Dinesh Karthik has found himself scoring steadily and contributing handsomely to the totals. He was earmarked to play those last 4-5 overs and propel the score by a good odd-60 to 70 runs. He knew exactly what he had to do and the equation was crystal clear. Rishabh Pant’s T20I form has been vehemently questionable over the past one year and yet India deemed it fit to go with the southpaw instead of RCB’s Finisher Supreme. Well, not much can be said either when there is a clear distinction looming large in the air.
#2 Rishabh Pant didn’t have the faintest idea of what he was asked to do
Pant was floating in thin air as if he was gusted into the situation without any understanding and he just wanted to spend some time, fancying a few extraordinary strokes, that would also result in his downfall. He wasn’t sure of what the team wanted from him and to make matters worse neither was he able to step foot in one single boat. He was indecisive throughout the innings and eventually ended up losing himself in both the games.
#3 Couldn’t take control of the situation
Pant was absolutely clueless in the middle as he was desperately gasping for breath, trying to figure a way out. He is known for his aggressive batting and yet somehow when the team needed him, he was still to figure out what was his intentions. He wanted to go fancy but at the same time didn’t want to resort to the aerial route too often. He had very minimal use of his feet against Pakistan and the dismissal was primarily due to that, because the sweep he struck was a half-hearted miscued effort. Well with so many blemishes already if you are making changes in the dying embers at such a level, questions are bound to be raised.
