T20 World Cup 2022: 3 reasons why India shouldn't have replaced Dinesh Karthik with Rishabh Pant vs Zimbabwe
Team India cruised past Zimbabwe in their final Super 12 game of the 2022 T20 World Cup, winning by 71 runs to seal the top spot in Group 2.
India surprisingly made one change to the team that beat Bangladesh, replacing Dinesh Karthik with Rishabh Pant. Captain Rohit Sharma said at the toss that the team management wanted to give Pant some game time ahead of the knockout stages.
It remains to be seen whether India will retain their faith in Pant, who failed to contribute much against Zimbabwe, when they take on England on Thursday. Irrespective of that, however, the Men in Blue find themselves in a tough spot when it comes to selecting a playing XI for the semi-final, something they could've avoided.
Here are three reasons why India shouldn't have replaced Dinesh Karthik with Rishabh Pant in their T20 World Cup clash against Zimbabwe.
#3 India might need Dinesh Karthik more than Rishabh Pant vs England
Which player will suit India's team composition better against England? Rohit and Co. surely would've considered this before deciding to bring Pant into the fold, considering they were slated to meet the English team if they beat Zimbabwe.
England don't have a left-arm spinner in their first-choice playing XI. They play Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali as their three spinners, with the specialist leg-spinner having been in rather poor form despite his stingy spell against Sri Lanka. Moreover, Pant doesn't boast an impressive record against left-arm spinners and leg-spinners in T20I cricket.
Karthik, on the other hand, will have a big role to play as a finisher if he's picked to play against England. Sam Curran and Co. have been excellent at the death, and Hardik Pandya hasn't been able to accelerate, especially against the fast bowlers. Given how important DK could be against England, it would've been wise not to shake things up in the final Super 12 game.
#2 It wasn't fair to Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant hasn't set the T20I world alight with his numbers, but India haven't given him a consistent run of games in a particular position. Even recently, they have occasionally tried him out as an opener while otherwise expecting him to hold down the middle order as the only left-hander.
It wasn't fair to thrust Pant into the fire against Zimbabwe, with only one Super 12 game remaining. He had to target Sean Williams early in the innings and it didn't come off as Ryan Burl plucked a diving catch at long-on, handing India a selection dilemma once again.
Pant would've no doubt loved to be named in the XI after a brief spell on the sidelines, but he wasn't put in a position to succeed. It wasn't fair to his predecessor either.
#1 Dinesh Karthik needed to spend time in the middle
With scores of 1, 6 and 7 in his three innings in the 2022 T20 World Cup, Dinesh Karthik hasn't been at his best. He put India in a spot of bother against Pakistan, got run out against Bangladesh and played a painstaking 15-ball innings against South Africa.
But India have been vocal about their backing of Karthik, who has got very few things wrong since making a comeback to the T20I side on the back of a stellar Indian Premier League season. He had scores of 17* and 46 in his final T20I series before the T20 World Cup and played a good run of matches leading up to the tournament.
Karthik could've been backed to return to form against Zimbabwe as he hasn't spent enough time in the middle. He needed to get some runs under the belt ahead of the final four, something that became impossible to do from the bench.