ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022: Both Rishabh Pant And Dinesh Karthik Need To Play For India- Cheteshwar Pujara

Both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik need to play for India in T20 World Cup 2022 feels veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara. This comes as the BCCI selectors are preparing to announce the 15-member squad for the tournament which reportedly will come on September 16.

The T20 World Cup 2022 will be played in Australia from October 16 onwards and India is one of the favourites to win the tournament despite their poor performance last year in UAE when they were knocked out in the league stage after losses to Pakistan and New Zealand.

Something similar has happened to the Rohit Sharma-led side in the Asia Cup 2022 as they crashed out in the super 4s stage after losing to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, despite coming into this stage by defeating the Babar Azam-led side and Hong Kong in the group stages.

Indian batting order came under scrutiny, especially the middle order which failed consistently when needed.

I Would Go With Rishabh Pant At No.5, Hardik Pandya At No.6 And Dinesh Karthik At No.7: Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara, while speaking on ESPNCricinfo, shared his thoughts about India’s preferred squad for the T20 World Cup. The team was rocked back by the injury of Ravindra Jadeja, which could possibly see the batter out of the T20 World Cup as well.

Pujara has said that he would like to see Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, and Dinesh Karthik in the middle order. India virtually has their top four fixed with KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar Yadav occupying the top order.

In the Asia Cup, Dinesh Karthik was sacrificed from the playing XI after the injury of Ravindra Jadeja. Rishabh Pant was slotted in place of Jadeja who give India their only left-handed option in the batting order.

“I think if I had to pick my No.5, 6 and 7 I would go with the kind of Asia Cup we had, we need to strengthen our batting lineup. I would go with Rishabh at No.5, Hardik at No.6 and DK at No.7. I think we need to include both. Rishabh and DK need to play. Unless you’re looking for Hooda to bowl a few overs. If he bowls, then Rishabh misses out, Deepak has to bat No.5,” Pujara said.

Pujara also said that at the moment there was no place for Axar Patel on the side, and Rishabh Pant could also be excluded from the team in case Deepak Hooda bowls.

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