Former South African international Dale Steyn is of the opinion that India need to pick the in-form players if they want to win the T20 World Cup and Dinesh Karthik is in red-hot form.
India’s preparation for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022 down under has been going well with several players putting their names forward. They could face a headache in the middle order with multiple contenders for limited spots. Rishabh Pant and Karthik will be vying for the wicket-keeper role.
Karthik, who scored his maiden T20I fifty in the fourth game against South Africa, has been in splendid form. The 37-year-old won the ‘Super Striker’ award for scoring at the highest strike rate in the tournament. Karthik was excellent for Royal Challengers Bangalore, smashing 330 runs at an average of 55 while striking at 183.3. In the ongoing series against the Proteas, he has scored 30 off 21 in the second game and 55 off 27 in the fourth.
Ex-RCB and Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler Steyn believes Karthik should be one of the first names on the team sheet in this kind of a purple patch.
“DK has just come out every single time and has shown what a class player he is. If you want to win World Cups, you pick a guy that’s in form. If he’s in a purple patch or is in red-hot form, you pick that guy,”
he told ESPNcricinfo.
Pant, who seemed to be getting back to his old self during the IPL 2022, has had a difficult series. The left hander’s scores in the four innings read 29 (16), 5 (7), 6 (8) and 17 (23).
“Pant had four opportunities in this series, but he just seems to be making the same mistakes. You would think that good players learn from their mistakes,”
Steyn stated.
The South African added that the teams will pick some players on reputation but Karthik deserves to be in the side on pure form and skill set.
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