Asia Cup 2022: Explained- Why India picked Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant

It came as a shocker when Rohit Sharma announced Dinesh Karthik's name in the playing XI, leaving out much-fancied Rishabh Pant. But apparently, the team management who are keen on 'trying different combinations to find the best XI' chose experience over Rishabh Pant's enigma.

For Karthik, since his IPL resurgence, the numbers are on his side. Pant on the other hand does not boast of very impressive statistics when it comes to the shortest format of the game. Even before the blockbuster India-Pakistan game began, Dinesh Karthik, the seniormost in the team led the huddle discussion.

DK's strike rate is currently hovering around 140 in T20Is and Pant's is at around 126. The southpaw's recent T20I numbers also do not favour him. In 2022, Pant has played 13 matches so far averaging 26. The inclusion of Karthik, however, meant there were no left-handers in India's top 7, precisely the reason why they had to promote Ravindra Jadeja to try and unsettle the Pakistani bowlers in their Asia Cup opener.

While the skipper’s experiment could not see the light of the day since the touted finisher Karthik only got to play a ball, it is yet to be seen if the Team management would stick to the playing XI for a couple of more matches or would back Rishabh Pant’s fireworks on the field again.

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