“Don’t Know How India Backed Dinesh Karthik For So Long; Saw Him Finish Just One Match, That Too Nidahas Final” – Maninder Singh

Former India National Cricket Team spinner Maninder Singh has slammed the BCCI selection committee and the Indian team management for backing the 37-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik for an extended period of time.

Dinesh Karthik, who made his T20I debut in 2006, got his India recall after his remarkable performance for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League 2022, where he scored 330 runs at a strike rate of 183.33.

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He was given a consistent run of chances in the lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. However, he failed to play any impactful knock in the marquee tournament as he registered scores of 1, 6, and 7 in three innings, before being dropped.

Meanwhile, Maninder said that he saw Karthik finish the game for India only once in the Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh in 2018, where he smashed unbeaten 29 runs off 8 balls to help the Men In Blue win the championship.

“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,” he said as quoted by News18.

We already made the mistake of not playing wrist spinner in the T20 World Cup – Maninder Singh

The 57-year-old further said that the Indian team management made a big blunder by not including Yuzvendra Chahal in the playing XI in any of the games in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

He also slammed the selectors for not including a wrist spinner in the ODI squad for the upcoming Bangladesh tour. Notably, Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are three spinners in India’s ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour. He said:

“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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