'Doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever' - Matthew Hayden wants Dinesh Karthik to 'bat more'

Even though Dinesh Karthik’s role is well-defined in the Indian team, the team's tactics are under scrutiny. The ongoing debate between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik is yet to settle down and the Indian team management took a bold decision to send Axar Patel ahead of Dinesh Karthik against Australia in the first T20I at Mohali.

Former Aussie international Matthew Hayden has said that he failed to understand the motive behind this move. The 50-year-old believes that Karthik should be given more time in the middle and that is something that the Indian team is restricting him from.

“I was just thinking about the role of Dinesh. This role Dinesh is playing now, for the life of me, I can't work out why he wouldn't be in their batting now. It doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. See. I don't want to give the impression that I'm disrespecting Dinesh Karthik but he should be batting more - it's actually the opposite,” said the two-time world champion on air.

“I question the role that he is playing as a finisher. I think there is a role for him to come up the order,” Hayden added.

Ajit Agarkar questions Karthik’s role in the team

Ajit Agarkar joined hands with Matthew Hayden and questioned India’s strategy to send Axar Patel ahead of Karthik. In the end, both the players were dismissed cheaply but the experts believe that Karthik should have gone ahead of Axar as it would have given him valuable game time ahead of the T20 World Cup.

“I find it very strange with regards to Dinesh Karthik. He is a good enough batter to walk in now. Doesn't have to after the 16th over. And as improved as Axar Patel is, you have the expectation from Karthik to manage this sort of situation. At least you hope he does, considering he is playing ahead of Rishabh Pant as well in this XI. It happened in the South Africa series and again today, Axar is batting ahead of him,” said Agarkar during the match.