Why is Rishabh Pant not playing today’s Asia Cup T20 between India and Pakistan in Dubai?

Why is Rishabh Pant not playing today: India have made a brave call with respect to their combination tonight.

During the second match of Asia Cup 2022 between India and Pakistan in Dubai, India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to bowl.

“Honestly, I don’t think the toss is that important. We are just here to play good cricket. We’ve played here in the IPL. So, hopefully, the pitch will be good,” Sharma told the host broadcaster at the toss.

Much like Sharma, his Pakistani counterpart in Babar Azam also wanted to bowl first to perhaps put India under pressure by picking early wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium like last year.

“We would have also been bowling first but this is not in our hands. We will look to make a big score and see,” Azam told the host broadcaster at the toss.

Why is Rishabh Pant not playing today vs Pakistan in Dubai?

Not known for taking brave decisions with respect to their T20I combination, India have surprised one and all by picking Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant as their wicket-keeper batter tonight.

This Indian lineup is such that only one out of Karthik or Pant would’ve played this match. With India opting for an outright finisher in Karthik, they don’t have any left-handed batter among their specialist batters now.

In spite of his heroics in other formats, Pant hasn’t really proved his mettle in T20Is. The surprise element around his omission in this match is more because of his potential than performance. Meanwhile, Karthik would be expected to make the most of his opportunity. The onus lies on the 37-year old player now to justify this selection.

“It was a tough call we had to take between playing Dinesh [Karthik] and Rishabh [Pant]. Rishabh sadly misses out,” Sharma added. Refraining from playing a third spinner, India have included all the three pacers of their squad in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan.

You always thought that India would play their best available XI for this match, and in picking Karthik over Pant, they have answered a big question #INDvPAK

— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) August 28, 2022

Pakistan, on the other hand, have handed a T20I debut to fast bowler Naseem Shah. While Haris Rauf was always expected to play this match, Shahnawaz Dahani has been picked ahead of Mohammad Hasnain as their third pacer.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More