Anxiety around Dinesh Karthik growing every match. India’s veteran wicket-keeper, who was called up as the team’s designated finisher for India’s 20th World Cup, did not do much in the tournament with figures of 1 and 6. Against Pakistan, Karthik could have finished the game. For India, however, stumbled in the last thrilling game. Karthik flew under the radar as India won the competition, but questions about his place in the side came to the fore again when he was dismissed cheaply against South Africa in Adelaide.
Considering… Karthik’s role in Sunday’s clash in Perth was not that of a finisher. He came into bat after five innings for India, but with his rich experience of 18 years in international cricket, Karthik is expected to partner the ever-in-form Suryakumar Yadav. But he spent 15 balls for 6 runs before Wayne Parnell. With the pressure mounting on 37-year-old former India spinner Pragyan Ojha, the experienced Karthik has been called upon to show more responsibility, as shown by South Africa’s David Miller.
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“Dinesh Karthik has been given a long rope and he’s been trusted, I think he needs to think about that. He’s an experienced player; you want your senior players to come and deliver. That’s what David Miller did. We lacked a few runs. If you look at South Africa’s batting , they had a very good middle order, they are getting those runs,” Ojha said on Sports Tak.
The former India spinner believes that the result was the difference in the bowling of the two teams. South Africa restricted India to 49/5 after Suryakumar Yadav led a lone batsman to reach a total of 133. Similarly, India got off to a great start with the ball, with Arshdeep Singh removing Quinton de Kock and Riley Rossouw in the same game. and Mohammed Shami sent back South African captain Themba Bavuma. However, a couple of missed opportunities left Virat Kohli’s sitter hurt India as Aiden Markram and David Miller both peeled off half-centuries to guide South Africa home.
“That’s the difference because both the bowling units have done their job. India should be happy because the game went on till the end and that’s where it was decided. When you talk about the batting, I felt strongly that the South African batsmen were playing to the players. The situation and we were in a different situation from the middle. We didn’t play,” Oja said.