Former spinner Maninder Singh criticised team India selectors and the management for backing veteran wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik for a long period of time. Karthik was part of India’s squad for the recently concluded T20 World Cup and was also preferred over Rishabh Pant in the initial matches of the tournament.
He returned to the Indian T20I set-up after an impressive show in IPL 2022 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He played the finisher’s role in IPL and displayed imperious form with the bat as he scored 330 runs at a strike rate of 183.33.
The Indian management also gave him the same role in the team but he failed to execute on the bouncy tracks of Australia as India crashed out of the semifinal after suffering a 10-wicket defeat against England. However, Karthik was dropped from the XI for the semifinal clash after his below-par show in the group stages.
The former India spinner was critical of Karthik and said the las time he finished the match for India was about four years ago in Nidahas Trophy Final.
“I don’t know how India backed Dinesh Karthik for so long. I saw him finish just one match, that too the Nidahas Final four years ago. Even in the T20 World Cup, he was backed to the hilt and it felt like he was under pressure due to that finisher’s tag. So if someone is not performing then you need to make changes.”
In the opening T20 World Cup encounter, Karthik could only manage to score one run against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. There was no change in Karthik’s performance after the 37-year-old was dismissed for just six runs against South Africa. He played his last match of the tournament against Bangladesh and he managed to score just seven runs in that encounter.
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Meanwhile, Maninder also criticised the selectors for not picking a wrist spinner for the ODI series against Bangladesh as he feels Kuldeep Yadav should get a long rope in the Indian team.
“We already made the mistake of not playing wrist spinner in the T20 World Cup and we also aren’t taking any wrist spinner for the ODIs in the Bangladesh tour. If you don’t play bowlers like Kuldeep regularly then how will you know what they can offer with the build-up to the World Cup?”
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