England vs India: Nayan Mongia feels Parthiv Patel should've replaced Saha for the Test series

Team India has been jolted with injuries to key players before the Test series. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Wriddhiman Saha both most probably won’t be available for all the five matches. The latter has been replaced by Dinesh Karthik in the squad as the selectors dropped Parthiv Patel who was preferred during South Africa tour earlier this year. However, the former Indian cricketer Nayan Mongia feels that Parthiv should’ve been included for England Tests ahead of Karthik.

Karthik has looked good in the limited-overs format which has lured the selectors to pick him for the Tests as well. Moreover, Parthiv was overlooked as the backup wicketkeeper also as Rishabh Pant earned a maiden call-up. The left-hander from Gujarat endured a poor series in South Africa as he failed to make a mark in the last couple of Test matches.

He is the best wicketkeeper after Saha

Nayan Mongia, while speaking to News 18, stressed that Parthiv Patel is the best wicketkeeper in the country after Saha. His experience would’ve been a handful for India in England during the Test series.

“After Wriddhiman Saha got injured, I would have persisted with Parthiv Patel because he was number 2 wicket-keeper in Test matches. He did reasonably well as a keeper and a batsman. He was asked to open when your opener got injured and he has got tons of experience and runs in domestic cricket. You can’t drop one player after another only after a single series or two test matches. ,” he said.

However, he was also of the opinion that Karthik now has a great opportunity to cement his place in the Test side as Saha is likely to miss the Australia tour as well. He reckoned that the batsman from Tamil Nadu is high on confidence and the same was on display during the warm-up game against Essex.

“He (Karthik) needs to grab this opportunity. He did fantastically well in the T20s and ODIs. He is very experienced and has been there in the Indian team for a very long time. But he has not been able to establish himself. It is a great opportunity, he is in great form and his confidence level is very high. The management has shown a lot of trust and confidence in him, so this is a golden chance for him,” Mongia added.

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