Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting reckons that the Indian team management should pick Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik ahead of Ishan Kishan in the squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
Pant affirmed his status as a match winner in the white-ball format with his maiden ODI hundred against England in the third ODI of the recently concluded series. He is yet to find his rhythm in the T20Is.
As for Karthik, he earned a recall to the Indian squad after a very successful IPL season for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Karthik also performed well in the South Africa T20Is to justify his place in the team.
Ponting has worked closely with Rishabh Pant at Delhi Capitals and is well aware of his strengths, while the former Australia captain thinks veteran all-rounder Dinesh Karthik must also fill a spot in India’s middle-order.
“We have seen what Rishabh is capable of in 50-over cricket and I know absolutely what he is capable of in the T20 game,” Ponting said on the latest episode of The ICC Review.
“Dinesh Karthik has had his best IPL ever just very recently … and I would be trying to find every way to have both of those guys in my team.
“Rishabh to bat, in that three-four-five range, and have Dinesh and maybe Hardik Pandya … if you have those guys finishing for you, well that batting line-up looks very, very dangerous.
“Obviously that means someone like (Ishan) Kishan or Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) or (Shreyas) Iyer, someone like that, might miss out and I don’t think Surya will miss out given his current form.
“But when you got so much talent picking an Indian team is always going to be difficult and Pant and Karthik would be the two I would pick ahead of Kishan right now.”
