5 Reasons why Dinesh Karthik should play the Indo-Pak fixture

Brought into the squad to replace an injured Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik sure can be dubbed as a clinical addition for the upcoming Champions Trophy. In 2013, the Tamil Nadu batsman earned a recall to the national squad after a stellar domestic season.

Again, 4 years later, he has traveled to the land of Three Lions, on the back of good performances in the domestic circuit and the IPL. Failing to capitalize on his chances last time around, Karthik will look to continue his impeccable streak with the willow from domestic cricket and give India a standing chance of retaining their title. The Men in Blue kickstart their title defense against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 4.

Here we take a look at 5 reasons why Dinesh Karthik seems to be the perfect fit.

Sublime form in IPL

Dinesh Kartik looked in sublime form playing for the Gujrat franchise, despite the team suffering a disastrous IPL campaign this year. Karthik was amongst the few positives that the team could take back this season. And it was the wicket-keeper batsmen who proved clinical providing his much-needed impetus to the middle order.

Karthik scored 361 runs from his 13 innings clocking at an average of 36.10 and with an impressive strike rate of 139.38. His statistics thus attest the fact that Karthik should be included in the high-octane clash.

An equally supreme form in domestic circuit

Karthik also had a phenomenal domestic season scoring runs at will for the Tamil Nadu team this season. He is now keen on translating the same form to the Champions Trophy and is hungry to succeed for the Indian team now.

“If you can carry that form into international, that’ll be great. That’s what I am planning to do. It’s been a good year with Tamil Nadu. The reason why I am sitting here is because of Tamil Nadu’s great team effort. So, I wish to play well for India,” he conceded.

Brings innovation into the game

Apart from Karthik’s imperative strokeplay, the diminutive batsman comes in handy with his innovations at the crease. With a very cool head, Karthik can absorb moments of pressure and tension through his innovative strokeplay be it switch hits, ramp shots, scoops and reverse sweeps.

The 31-year-old makes the most of his bag of tricks and pulls out shots when the bowlers least expect it. He did it in IPL 2017 as well, and the fans would be waiting for him to do an encore.

 Provides flexibility to the batting line-up

With a plethora of finishers in the likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj, Jadhav and Pandya, the addition of Dinesh Karthik affords the flexibility in the batting order as he can play anywhere in the top six. One of the issues that India have is that a lot of their batsmen are good at a certain position and can’t really play more than one role effectively.

Adept to pitch conditions in England

Karthik was a regular in the Indian side during the previous Champions Trophy where he scored two magnificent centuries against Sri Lanka and Australia during the warm-up matches. Also, the pitch conditions in England are most suitable for fast bowlers. Karthik is an impeccable player of both fast and swing and that’s where Karthik has an edge of being included in tomorrow’s team roster.