Ajay Jadeja, a former cricketer for India, has left experienced batsman Dinesh Karthik off his squad for the forthcoming 2022 Asia Cup. The 37-year-old, who is presently representing Team India in the shortest format as the finisher, has made a powerful statement since making his comeback.
Since being recalled following a successful 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Karthik has scored 192 runs in 14 innings. The wicket-keeper batsman got his maiden T20I fifty during that period and remained in pushing his selection for the forthcoming T20 World Cup in 2022.
Before the fifth and final T20I match between India and West Indies in Florida, Ajay Jadeja chose his bowling lineup at the pre-match broadcast on FanCode. The lineup includes three pacers and a spinner. It is noteworthy that Jadeja selected Mohammed Shami over Bhuvneshwar Kumar. While the latter has been the top wicket-taker throughout that period, the former hasn’t played in a T20I match since the World Cup 2021 ended.
He suggested during pre-show “I have added Shami to the team. So for me, I select bowlers first. So Shami is a certainty. Bumrah, Arshdeep and Chahal. These are the four certainties. In batting, four are certainties for me – Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, and Deepak Hooda. For this bowling attack, you have powerplay, middle overs and death overs sorted. You can bowl them anywhere. Even for the batters, they are flexible.”
Under Rohit Sharma as captain, India has changed its T20I approach from a cautious one to a competitive one. Virat Kohli, the previous captain of India, may not be included in the squad if they maintain their current batting strategy, Jadeja stated. The selectors would also need to maintain Virat Kohli and choose Dinesh Karthik for the starting XI if India went the MS Dhoni path, he said.
He tried to explain the reason for his selection choices, “Now if you want to play the way I have heard them…aggressive then you have to pick differently. If Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma walk in, you need Dinesh Karthik at all costs. He is your insurance. But if you don’t have either of them then Dinesh Karthik has no work here. But yes I would not put Karthik there, he can have a seat beside me. He is very good as a commentator.”
He further added, “But there, in the team, I would not pick him. Now the decision is whether you want to play Ravindra or Axar. If it’s Dhoni style, then add Kohli, Rohit, and Karthik. But in modern-day cricket, you have to leave out Karthik. Maybe even Kohli depends on whether he is in form or not.”
