Why Dinesh Karthik dropped: India have made three changes to their Playing XI for this match against Pakistan.
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During the eighth match of the ongoing 15th edition of the Asia Cup between India and Pakistan in Dubai, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has won the toss and chose to bowl.
“We will bowl first. The dew could be a factor, that’s the reason we’re bowling first. We had a lot of positives from the last match against India,” Azam told Star Sports at the toss.
With Pakistan bringing in pacer Mohammad Hasnain for injured pacer Shahnawaz Dahani, expect the Indian top-order to be tested yet again at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Why Dinesh Karthik dropped?
Much like his counterpart, India captain Rohit Sharma also wanted to bowl first in this match. Laying emphasis on “playing freely”, Sharma didn’t shy away from hinting that the Indian opening batters will go all guns blazing against Pakistan tonight.
“We would have bowled first but now we need to play freely and assess a good score on this pitch. Momentum counts in this format. You’ve to be on the money from the start, not worry about external pressures,” Sharma told Star Sports at the toss.
India have made three changes to their Playing XI. Injured all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (ruled out of Asia Cup), veteran wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik and unwell pacer Avesh Khan have been left out for all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda and spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
Not really a match day if there’s no @imVkohli milestone coming up. 😉#PlayBold #TeamIndia #INDvPAK #AsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/3JOOMzXy0M
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) September 4, 2022
Player of the Match in the last India-Pakistan T20I at this venue, Pandya was always expected to be back for this match. In the absence of a fourth pacer in their 15-member squad, one out of Bishnoi or Ravichandran Ashwin was expected to replace Khan.
However, India leaving out Karthik after limited opportunities in two matches is a bit of a surprise after him being preferred over Pant only a week ago. Neither Sharma was asked about the rationale behind this move nor he himself threw light on it. A potential reason behind Pant playing ahead of Karthik is the lack of a left-handed batter in India’s XI in Jadeja’s absence.
