Mumbai: Batsman Sunil Gavaskar believes that Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant can play both in the playing XI if Hardik Pandya is made the fifth bowling option in the upcoming T20 World Cup. The Rohit Sharma-led side will start their campaign against Pakistan on Sunday.
Team India has Pant and Karthik options as wicket-keeper batsman. With the Indian team management contemplating on the team combination ahead of the match against Pakistan, the 73-year-old former batsman Gavaskar believes that both of them can find a place in the playing XI.
Pant will have a chance to bat at No.6: Gavaskar
Gavaskar said that if he decides to go with six bowlers and Hardik Pandya is the sixth bowler, then Pant may not find a place in the team, but if he decides to field Hadik as the fifth bowler, then Pant Will have a chance to bat at No.6 and Karthik can come at No.7 after which four bowlers will land. It can happen, but for that we will have to wait.
He said that he would definitely like to include a left-handed batsman in the team who is in such good form. Sometimes you may ask yourself, how many overs will Pant get to play? Will he get to play three or four overs? Three or four overs, is Karthik or Pant the batsman? These are all circumstances they have to look into and decide.
India and Pakistan team for T20 World Cup 2022
Indian Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, R.K. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami
Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur