India vs Pakistan Asia Cup: Dinesh Karthik replaces Rishabh Pant in the playing XI

In an interesting move, Dinesh Karthik has been given a go, ahead of India’s implied first-choice wicketkeeper in their first Asia Cup match against Pakistan. Rohit Sharma confirmed at the toss ahead of the match that the think tank was confused between the two wicket keepers. “I will make it very easy. There was only one call we had to take, between Dinesh and Rishabh. Rishabh, unfortunately, misses out, we will go with Dinesh Karthik.”

Leaving out Rishabh Pant is a huge call and a sign towards the favoured line-up at the T20 World Cup. It is also an acknowledgement of how India want to play with DK as a power finisher. Don't be surprised to see Jadeja at no 5 today, though.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 28, 2022

Karthik only kept wickets in one series this year against Ireland, whereas Pant had been the first-choice wicketkeeper for India throughout the season. However, the India think tank has once again baffled the fans and selected Karthik ahead of Pant. Gautam Gambhir, speaking on Star Sports, said that he would have preferred to see Pant over Karthik as he has been in a good form and is a future prospect for India. It is noteworthy that Karthik has been fascinating in the shortest format since his comeback in the IPL earlier this year and has scored at a strike rate of 133.33 for India in his 16 appearances. India have also selected three fast bowlers besides all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the playing XI. The selection of all three seamers must be to tackle the fact that Pakistan are comfortable facing spinners. However, India also have spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja in the side.

Captain @ImRo45 has won the toss and we will bowl first against Pakistan.

A look at our Playing XI for the game.

Live - https://t.co/o3hJ6VNfwF #INDvPAK #AsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/O0HQXFQzC4

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 28, 2022

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India chose to bowl first after winning the toss in what also happens to be Virat Kohli’s 100th T20I. It will be worthwhile to see if India’s team selection of Karthik over Pant proves to be fruitful or not. Playing XI Pakistan: Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Haris Rauf India: Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.