Indian Cricket
Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant will wear the wicket-keeper mitts for Thursday’s Twenty20 World Cup semifinal match against England, according to India skipper Rohit Sharma, who has not yet made up his mind.
To date, India’s favorite stumper has been the seasoned Dinesh Karthik, who is an excellent finisher with the bat. Pant had his only outing in Sunday’s meaningless Super 12 match against Zimbabwe, where he collected three runs.
Because they don’t have another left-handed batsman in their frontline of batsmen, India, who won the first competition in 2007, may yet be tempted to utilize Pant.
To give the 25-year-old some playing time in case he is required in the tournament’s knockout round, Rohit claimed it was a “tactical” decision to field Pant versus Zimbabwe.
It would be unjust to just bring the man from nowhere and force him to play the game, Rohit said during a news conference at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday. “If we want to make changes for the semis or the finals, we should be entitled to do that,” Rohit said.
The players have been informed from the start that everyone must be prepared for every game they may have to play, whether it is a league game, a semifinal game, or a championship game.
“We wanted to give a lefthander a chance to counter some of the middle-over spinners for England and New Zealand,” said the selectors. That was the idea (behind playing Pant).
“What will occur the following day? Both keepers will undoubtedly be in action, though I can’t say for sure right now.”
Despite taking a knock to his forearm in the nets on Wednesday, Rohit, who has only scored one fifty in five games while playing in Australia, is healthy enough to captain the team against Jos Buttler’s England.
“There was some minor bruising, but it’s completely fine now.”
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