IND vs PAK 2022: "Somewhere, Pant has himself to blame for this"- Fans with mixed feelings as Team India drop Rishabh Pant vs Pakistan

Team India had to make a choice between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik and ultimately the southpaw missed out on the playing XI for their 2022 Asia Cup opener against Pakistan.

Pant's match-winning ability was probably never in doubt when it came to the longer formats. However, he has pretty modest numbers in T20Is despite being backed by the management for over 50 games.

But with the return of big guns like KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, the southpaw couldn't find a place in India's middle-order. This should give Karthik some confidence as his fairytale return to international cricket as a finisher continues.

Fans on Twitter gave mixed reactions to the decision to drop Rishabh Pant. Some felt that the right call was made given that Karthik was a specialist finisher, while others claimed that it was harsh on a match-winner like Pant to be dropped.

Here are some of the reactions:

India could get help of the conditions after winning the toss

There is a nice covering of grass on the surface at the Dubai International Stadium and captain Rohit Sharma had absolutely no hesitation in bowling first. As seen in the game on Saturday, Afghanistan's new-ball bowlers were able to generate swing and late movement.

With the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh both capable of swinging the ball with accuracy, the Men in Blue might fancy their chances of making early inroads in the Pakistan batting line-up.

The Men in Green will hope for a comeback after losing skipper Babar Azam early on.

Lineups:

Pakistan XI: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani

India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal