MSK Prasad opines on the Dinesh Karthik-Rishabh Pant conundrum

India’s squads for the T20I and ODI series against Australia have recently been announced. The tour gets underway on Sunday, February 24 with the first T20I in Visakhapatnam. The selectors have sprung a few surprises as they left out the experienced Dinesh Karthik from the ODI squad, even as the Tamil Nadu cricketer retained his place in the squad for the shortest format.

Karthik played the ODIs in Australia and New Zealand and did reasonably well. However, the 21-year-old Rishabh Pant was selected ahead of him for the upcoming white-ball fixture against the Aussies. Pant didn’t play the 50-overs formats against the Aussies and the Black Caps. In the meantime, chairman of selectors MSK Prasad also opined on the never-ending debate.

Prasad opens up

“It’s definitely a healthy debate that’s going on. We know Dinesh Karthik has been doing really well in the finisher’s role. At the same time, Rishabh Pant’s escalation has been very fast. He is showing a lot of maturity. Both of them are equally good but what is good for the team is going to help us take a call at the appropriate time,” Prasad was quoted as saying in India Today.

Earlier, former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar went on to say that Karthik’s ODI career is all, but over. “His fans will feel sorry because with the opportunity he has got, he has done as well as he could. But I feel with this selection or non-selection of Karthik, India have told everyone that we look at Karthik as a T20 batsman, and his 50-over future is over as far as we are concerned,” Manjrekar mentioned.

Pant made his ODI debut last year against the Windies, but couldn’t make much of an impact. His Test career has been like a fairytale, but the Uttarakhand-born hasn’t been able to grab the opportunities in the 50-overs format. MS Dhoni is the first-choice keeper for the World Cup in England and Wales, starting May 30. Karthik was a part of the 2007 World Cup where India bowed out after the first round.

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