Five Indian Batsmen who are likely to miss ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

Dinesh Karthik

Karthik has struggled to find form in England

Having been around in the National circuit since 2004, Dinesh Karthik struggled to become the kind of dependable wicketkeeper-batsman that Indian cricket team craved for when he made his debut. He and Parthiv Patel had been the wicketkeeping choices of the Indian side after Rahul Dravid opted not to keep wickets anymore, but the two failed to cement their place in the side, leading to the advent of MS Dhoni, who made his opportunity count and took to the big stage as fish takes to water.

It was only as a pure Batsman that Karthik would be able to break into the Indian side because of MS Dhoni being the first choice wicketkeeper. Karthik did manage to make comebacks on multiple occasions, including the 2013 Champions Trophy, but always disappeared from the International setup soon after due to inconsistency.

It was this year in 2018 that he made a comeback to the side and announced himself as a floater; someone who could bat at any position and still contribute. He smashed a staggering 29 off 8 balls to take India over the line in the Nidahas Trophy final, coming in to bat at 7 and hitting a six off the last ball. He continued his sublime form in the IPL too, where he played some good innings at number 4 and some fabulous cameos and providing a flourishing finish to his side after coming in to bat at no. 5.

He has shown immense resilience, hard work, and determination over the course of his career. However, the unfortunate part is that the World Cup squad will be a 15 man squad. And with Dhoni as the wicketkeeper and Rishabh Pant potentially as a second wicketkeeping option, there is not a very bright chance that India would pick the swashbuckling Batsman from Tamil Nadu.