ICC World Cup 2019: 3 unanswered questions for India as they head into the tournament

#2 Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik - who is the ideal backup wicket-keeper?

Rishabh Pant failed to grab the opportunities he received

Rishabh Pant was preferred over the experienced Dinesh Karthik for the home ODIs against the Aussies. And sadly, neither did the youngster establish himself as a wicket-keeper or as a batsman in the two opportunities he got.

It is very unfortunate that one has to comment on or analyze Pant's performance in this series considering he just got two opportunities. But such is the competition for spots to make to India’s World Cup squad. Pant had to be at his flamboyant best in the chances he gets.

He couldn’t capitalize on the chances he got, his wicket-keeping was far from ideal. His missed stumping of Ashton Turner proved to be the difference between the two sides in Mohali. He was far from perfect in the last ODI at Delhi too.

His batting was too sloppy to mark his name for the World Cup squad, especially over someone like Karthik. He had the perfect platform laid out - series leveled at 2-2, India chasing down a challenging total of 273. All he had to do was build a partnership of substance with Vijay Shankar and Kedhar Jadhav and that could have pushed India towards a series win. But a rush of blood got to him and he threw away a golden opportunity to be selected as the backup wicket-keeper option.

With his experience coupled with his finishing abilities, despite being left out of India’s last ODI assignment ahead of the World Cup, Karthik should get the nod ahead of Pant. But there are speculations going around that DK probably is out of the reckoning.

One must wait and watch where the selectors go. Probably the wicket-keeper with a more defining IPL 2019 might make it to the World Cup as a backup option for MS Dhoni.