There has been a lot of debate about who among Rishabh Pant and Karthik will get the nod if India were to pick a full-strength team. Many believe it should be 'DK' as Pant failed to impress in the 2022 Asia Cup.
Ex-Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has stated that there is no way both Karthik and Pant can play together in the playing XI as you need a sixth bowling option.
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“You can't do that. If you do that, you will miss out on a sixth bowler and you will not go into the World Cup with five bowlers. You need to have a backup. Unless you drop someone like Suryakumar Yadav, or KL Rahul has a bad tournament.. you can push Rishabh Pant to open the batting. Otherwise, I don't see both of these players in the middle-order,” said Gambhir on Star Sports in a virtual press conference.
The World Cup-winning former Indian batter stated that Rishabh Pant would be his first choice in the wicketkeeping role because Karthik has “shown no interest” in batting at higher positions. Pant, meanwhile, has opened the innings on multiple occasions in T20Is this year and usually bats at no.5 or 6 in the order.
“To start with, Rishabh Pant. Because I have said it in the past as well, you don't pick a T20 player only to play 10-12 balls. There is no guarantee that he is going to win you games. And Dinesh Karthik, unfortunately, has shown no interest in batting in the top-5. Your wicketkeeper has to be able to bat in the top-5 and Rishabh Pant has that quality to bat at any number for that matter,” said Gambhir.
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“I will definitely have Rishabh Pant in my batting order. I don't believe in the notion that you need a left-hander in the middle-order. That's not the criteria, especially in a side like India. The criteria should be the ability to win a game, and Rishabh Pant has that. So yeah, Pant to start with at no.5, Hardik Pandya at 6, Axar at 7 and see if you want to Ashwin at 8, followed by three seamers.”
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