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ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Five reasons why Dinesh Karthik is the ideal replacement for Manish Pandey

One man's pain is another's gain as DK finally gets another chance

After missing the eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad, there were some doubts about Manish Pandey’s fitness and whether the Kolkata Knight Riders batsman will recover in time for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Those fears were confirmed when he was ruled out of the tournament and Dinesh Karthik named as his replacement.

The 31-year-old wicketkeeper batsman from Tamil Nadu may not have played an ODI since 2014 but there can be little doubt about the merits of his inclusion. Karthik has done more than enough to justify a comeback and merely highlights the emphasis the selectors have placed on domestic form.domestic form.domestic form.domestic form.

Here are five reasons why Dinesh Karthik is the ideal replacement for Manish Pandey in India’s Champions Trophy squad:

Excellent form

The selection of Dinesh Karthik is another valid example of a player getting back into the side on the sheer weight of numbers in the domestic circuit. The 2016/17 season was one in which the Tamil Nadu keeper excelled across all formats and earned his place on merit, even if it came after an injury to a key member of the squad.

Nearly 2,000 runs in the season across all formats signifies a man in form. Those runs didn’t all just come from the IPL where he was one of the few bright sparks for Gujarat Lions scoring 361 runs at an average of over 35 and strike rate of 140.

In the Ranji Trophy, he scored over 700 runs at an average of nearly 55 while he put on an exhibition of batting in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy (both List-A) where he scored a staggering 854 runs at an average of 85.4 and strike rate of 105.

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