Veteran Sunil Gavaskar slammed former opener Gautam Gambhir’s comments for not being fixed in Playing 11 in the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November this year. Before India vs South Africa’s fourth T20 match, Gambhir said about Karthik, “If he does not have a place in the playing XI, there is no point in giving him a place in the team.”
Gavaskar completely disagreed with Gambhir and he said that Karthik can be the players which Team India needed. The former captain of India did not name Gambhir, but made this comment on the statement of the former left-handed opener. He said in a post match show on Star News, “I know that people are talking about how you can include him in the team if he does not play. How can you say that he will not be able to play? You choose the player by looking at the form and not looking at the prestige and name.”
Karthik played a brilliant innings of 55 runs in 27 balls in the fourth T20 match against South Africa in Rajkot and was adjudged Player of the Match. Experienced wicketkeeper-batsman scored runs at a strike rate of over 200. During this time he hit two sixes and nine fours. India was in trouble when Karthik came out to bat at number six.
Captain Rishabh Pant was dismissed for 17 runs in 23 balls and the team could only manage 81 runs for 4 wickets in 12.5 overs. In the next 7 overs, India scored 169 for 5 wickets in 20 overs with partnership between Karthik and Hardik Pandya (46 runs in 31 balls). Gavaskar said that no one should look at Karthik’s age but should see that he is scoring important runs at an impressive strike rate in difficult situations.
Gavaskar further said, “Dinesh Karthik does not get much opportunities, batting at number 6 and 7. You cannot expect them to score 50 runs regularly. He can give you 40 runs in 20 balls and he is doing this work continuously. This is why he is a contender to get a place in the World Cup team.
Sunil Gavaskar also said, “Today he scored runs on the pressure on Team India. He is desperate to play for India again. The next year is to have a 50 -over World Cup and I feel that he would like to be available for it too. Whatever happens, no one’s age, performance should be seen. “