I Would Have Gone with Dinesh Karthik Ahead of Suresh Raina in the 1st ODI: Gautam Gambhir

Team India is currently playing the opening ODI against England at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. They were thoroughly professional in the T20I format and won the series by a 2-1 margin. They would be hoping for much of the same in the ODI series. A whitewash would be ideal. However, India shouldn’t look too far ahead especially given the fact that England is the No 1 ODI side in the world at the moment.

India has gone for some strange combinations in the T20I series. Kuldeep Yadav was dropped from the final T20I despite a heroic performance in the 1^st clash. Even in the opening ODI, Dinesh Karthik might have been a better option ahead of Suresh Raina. Karthik has been part of the Indian limited overs side in the recent past. However, Raina is making an ODI comeback after almost 3 years.

Ambati Rayudu was originally picked for the tour. However, Raina replaced him after the former failed to pass the yo-yo test. Karthik has performed quite well in the shortest format. But he has played just a solitary game in the whole UK tour so far. Raina got the nod yet again ahead of Karthik for the opening ODI.

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Out of favour Indian opener, Gautam Gambhir feels that he would have gone with Karthik in the playing XI ahead of Raina. He gave proper reasoning behind his choice. Gambhir feels that Karthik provides the much-needed flexibility to the Indian batting line-up.

I would have picked Dinesh for the 50 overs format says Gambhir 

“Probably, I would’ve had Dinesh Karthik in place of Suresh Raina and in the kind of form he is in, I would’ve picked him in the fifty-over format. Obviously, Suresh Raina is a little more destructive in the 50-over format, but I wouldn’t have gone with him,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

“Karthik gives you more solidity, he gives you more options, to be honest. He is a much better overall player when it comes to spin and fast bowling and he can be destructive at the latter half of the innings as well,” the left-handed batsman added.

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