Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that India should pick both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup squad. The Men in Blue are going through a transitional phase as they have yet not finalized the players for the upcoming mega ICC tournament. In the third ODI against England, Pant silenced his white-ball critics. The southpaw slammed a majestic century to help India clinch the ODI series. However, Pant’s numbers in T20Is are not that good which still put him under the scanner.
On the other hand, Karthik returned to the Indian team this year after a sensational IPL season with Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 37-year-old scored 330 runs at a strike rate of 183.33. The veteran wicketkeeper also performed well in the South Africa T20Is to justify his place in the team.
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Ponting, who has worked closely with Pant at Delhi Capitals, said that he is well aware of his strengths, but he feels Karthik also deserved a place in the squad.
“We have seen what Rishabh is capable of in 50-over cricket and I know absolutely what he is capable of in the T20 game. Dinesh Karthik has had his best IPL ever just very recently… and I would be trying to find every way to have both of those guys in my team," Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
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Ponting suggested that India should include Pant and Karthik in the middle-order alongside all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
“Rishabh to bat, in that three-four-five range, and have Dinesh and maybe Hardik Pandya… if you have those guys finishing for you, well that batting line-up looks very, very dangerous," he added.
While the legendary Australia captain said that he would pick Pant and Karthik as the two wicketkeepers over Ishan Kishan.
“Obviously that means someone like (Ishan) Kishan or Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) or (Shreyas) Iyer, someone like that, might miss out and I don’t think Surya will miss out given his current form.
“But when you have so much talent, picking an Indian team is always going to be difficult and Pant and Karthik would be the two I would pick ahead of Kishan right now," Ponting said.
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