Last Update on: July 16th, 2021 at 11:41 am
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Senior India player and budding commentator Dinesh Karthik has funnily indicated his availability for Team India’s warm-up match in England after the two first-choice wicket-keeper’s Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha have been placed in quarantine.
Saha was isolated after Dayananda Garani, India’s training assistant was tested positive for the Covid-19 on July 14th. Along with Saha, bowling coach, Bharat Arun, and standby batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran were also put in a 10-day quarantine as they were deemed close contacts with Garani.
Rishabh Pant was the first member of the Indian contingent to return a positive test for the virus on 8th July; he has been placed in quarantine since and is about to complete his period.
India are to play a three-day warm-up game from July 20 at Chester-le-Street against a select county team.
With both Pant and Saha in quarantine, Dinesh Karthik took this moment to remind his availability as he is in England for his commentary duties. He posted a picture of his kit bag with a cheeky hashtag “#justsaying”.
😋 #justsaying pic.twitter.com/zX3ValErDc
— DK (@DineshKarthik) July 15, 2021
But India do have KL Rahul in the squad who is likely to take the wicket-keeping duties in the warm-up fixture. Pant also is “on his way to recovery” and will be allowed to join the rest of the India squad after returning two negative RT-PCR tests.
‘You still have some cricket left’ – Rohit Sharma tells Dinesh Karthik
In one of the fun social media banter, opener Rohit Sharma was seen telling Dinesh Karthik that the latter still has plenty of cricket left in him. The 36-year-old has spent his summer in the commentary box in England – his stint started from the WTC final between India and New Zealand, and followed with England’s home white-ball matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. After impressing everyone, he is likely to continue it in the India-England Test series.
Dinesh Karthik hasn’t played for India for two years – his last international appearance came in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand. He was then dropped from both the ODI and T20I sides. The right-hander continues to play for Tamil Nadu and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.
“You still have some cricket left. FYI,” Sharma commented on Dinesh Karthik’s Instagram post.
“don’t ever doubt that sham,” the wicket-keeper promptly replied.
Also Read: India-England Test Series To Be Held Without Strict Bio-Bubble Protocols