2017 ICC Champions Trophy: 5 reasons why Dinesh Karthik deserves to play ahead of Yuvraj Singh

After a comprehensive win over New Zealand in their first warm-up match, India registered another convincing win in their final warm-up game by thrashing Bangladesh by 240 runs. India had a poor start to their innings as they lost Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane early. However, Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik restored stability in the Indian innings by adding 100 for the third wicket. Dhawan scored 60 before being dismissed by Sunzamul Islam.

Dinesh Karthik continued to play finely, building a partnership of 75 with Kedar Jadhav before the latter was dismissed. Karthik went on to score 94 before retiring out at the end of the 35^th over. A smashing innings of 80 from Hardik Pandya helped India register a total of 324/7 in their 50 overs.

In reply, Bangladesh were never in the chase as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav tore apart their batting and reduced them to 35/6. A few chippings from Mehedi Hasan and Sunzamul Islam could only take their innings to 84 and India had won the match convincingly.

There was no Man of the Match award since warm-up matches are not considered as actual ODI matches but one performance that was really delightful to watch was that of Dinesh Karthik’s who batted beautifully before retiring out.

Karthik was an eleventh-hour addition to the India’s Champions Trophy squad after Manish Pandey was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. The Tamil Nadu player was dismissed for a duck against New Zealand but made up for that through his sensational innings against Bangladesh.

Karthik’s innings will definitely keep Virat Kohli in a dilemma as to who to keep in the playing XI between him and Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj has been cleared to play the tournament after illness ruled him out of the New Zealand game.

Here are five reasons why Dinesh Karthik deserves a spot in the Playing XI ahead of the southpaw:

#5 Better form in the IPL

Karthik was in good form during the IPL

Gujarat Lions had a disastrous IPL campaign this year, as they ended the tournament second from bottom. However, Dinesh Karthik had a good tournament personally as he scored 361 runs from 13 innings at an average of 36.10 and at an impressive strike rate of 139.38 with a 34-ball 65 against Delhi Daredevils at Delhi being his highest score.

Even though a number of his best batting performances during the tournament came in a losing cause, Karthik added depth to the Gujarat Lions middle-order and made significant contributions with the bat most of the time.

On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad made it to the play-offs but Yuvraj’s performance during the tournament was affected by lack of fitness as he produced only sporadic batting performances during the tournament, scoring 252 runs at an average of 28 and at a strike rate of 142.37. Karthik had a more consistent tournament compared to Yuvraj Singh and this should be a factor that should be taken into consideration while choosing India’s playing XI against Pakistan.

#4 Good domestic form

Karthik was the top scorer in both the VIjay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy

Tamil Nadu reached the semi-finals during the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy and one of their key performers was Dinesh Karthik who was their third highest run-scorer of the tournament with 704 runs at an average of 54.15, hitting 5 fifties and a century.

However, what brought Karthik back on the selectors’ radar was his spectacular List-A performances. Karthik was the highest run-getter during the Vijay Hazare Trophy with 607 runs at an extraordinary average of 86.71 and an equally impressive strike-rate of 102.01. His performances helped Tamil Nadu to a 5^th Vijay Hazare Trophy after beating Bengal in the final where Karthik scored 102.

He continued his good form in the Deodhar Trophy where he was the top scorer with 247 runs and Tamil Nadu won the tournament thanks to his 126 against India B in the final. His brilliant List-A form was brilliant and does merit him a spot in the Playing XI during the Champions Trophy.

#3 Relatively more playing time in England in the past few years

Dinesh Karthik scored two centuries during the warm-up matches of the previous Champions Trophy

Yuvraj Singh last played an ODI in England nearly 10 years back and even though Karthik has played sporadically in England, he still has played more compared to Yuvi. Karthik was a regular in the Indian side during the previous Champions Trophy where he scored two magnificent centuries against Sri Lanka and Australia during the warm-up matches.

During the main tournament, Karthik did not have much to offer in most matches due to the brilliant starts provided by Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Nevertheless, he still managed to score a half-century against West Indies at Birmingham. Karthik scored 82 runs in four innings at an average of 41.

The reason why this factor should be considered while choosing the playing XI is because a lot has changed since Yuvraj last played an ODI in England. The impact of T20 cricket on ODIs has been so much that scoring 300 on any pitch has become mainstream. Besides, Karthik’s sensational 94 yesterday gives him a certain edge over Yuvraj.

#2 Pitch conditions

Yuvraj Singh is not the best player of swing bowling

Since the pitch conditions in England are more suitable for fast bowlers and India already have two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, the addition of Yuvraj as a spinner will be redundant.

Although Yuvraj can play fast bowling well as a batsman, he is not the best player of swing which could be a disadvantage for India and with the likes of Pakistan and South Africa in their group, India need batsmen who are good in playing swing. That’s where Karthik has an edge as he is a good player of both fast and swing bowling.

#1 Fitness

Dinesh Karthik’s addition to the playing XI would be an asset to the Indian fielding department

During the IPL, Yuvraj Singh could not play to the best of his abilities as he had to deal with injuries at certain junctures during the tournament. Following the tournament, Yuvraj was hit with a bout of illness which ruled him out of the first Champions Trophy warm-up match against New Zealand. He was deemed fit to play the tournament later but did not feature in the second warm-up match against Bangladesh.

Even though he has passed his fitness tests, age is not on Yuvraj’s side and he is not the same agile fielder he once used to be.

Dinesh Karthik on the other hand, has been in good health and was quite agile on the field yesterday against Bangladesh, taking a brilliant catch to dismiss Mahmudullah. Hence, fitness would turn out to be a determining factor as to whom to chose between Yuvraj and Karthik when India begin their title defence against Pakistan.