Why Dinesh Karthik is not playing today: India have once again picked Rishabh Pant ahead of Dinesh Karthik.
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During the ninth match of Asia Cup 2022 between India and Sri Lanka in Dubai, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka has won the toss and chose to bowl.
“We’ll bowl first because of the record here. All the last three games have been chased down here. The approach has been outstanding by our batters and we hope to continue the same. The coaching staff and the players have created the environment for the new players to come in and deliver,” Shanaka told Star Sports at the toss.
It goes without saying that Shanaka’s decision has been inspired from Sri Lanka brilliantly executing two back-to-back challenging run-chases in this tournament. As far as the overall record at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium is concerned, teams batting first have won here 36 times as compared to 43 victories by teams batting second.
Why Dinesh Karthik is not playing today vs Sri Lanka?
Much like the last match, India captain Rohit Sharma was looking to to chase a total at this venue tonight as well. Been asked to bat first for the second time in a row, Sharma didn’t want to deter from their approach of “playing freely”.
“We would have bowled first as well. The pitch doesn’t change much and it only gets better to bat on. This gives us an opportunity to come out and play freely. We need to ensure that we are there from the word go,” Sharma told Star Sports at the toss.
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While Sri Lanka will field an unchanged team on Tuesday, India have made one change by bringing in spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for spinner Ravi Bishnoi. Sharma confirmed that the change has been made looking at the combination of the Sri Lankan XI which consists of quite a few left-handed batters.
The development means that India will be without all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik yet again. Jadeja, who has been ruled out of Asia Cup 2022 due to a knee injury, has already undergone a surgery.
Karthik, on the other hand, has been left out for Rishabh Pant despite being picked ahead of him in the first match of the tournament. The team management would really be hoping for Pant to justify these repeated opportunities.
