Not KL Rahul, Sunil Gavaskar wants this Indian player to be the backup opener in the World Cup

What’s the story?

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar wants the team to have Dinesh Karthik as a back-up opener at the 2019 World Cup to be held in England this year.

In case you didn’t know

Indian selectors have excluded the name of Dinesh Karthik from the list of 15 players for the upcoming five-match series against Australia, with the selectors giving one final chance to K.L Rahul and wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant.

Karthik has been a regular part of the Indian team since the Asia Cup 2018. However, his recent performance in the ODIs against both Australia and New Zealand were far from impressive. Karthik could only muster 37 runs from the three ODIs against Australia. Meanwhile, against New Zealand, he could only score 38 runs from two ODIs.

The heart of the matter

Rahul has been in good touch of late for India A, scoring runs against England Lions in the two unofficial Tests. As far as Pant is concerned, the chairman of Indian selectors M.S.K Prasad has clearly stated that he wants to give Pant adequate chances before the World Cup. However, Gavaskar said there should be some flexibility in the team during the World Cup and backed Karthik as a back-up opener.

"There should be flexibility in the team. Dinesh Karthik has opened in Test matches in the past so he can do it in ODIs too," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by India Today.

Gavaskar also picked his 15-man squad, preferring to put Karthik ahead of Rahul with Pant who do not feature in the 15-man list.

"I have 13 names in my mind who will surely board the flight to England and they are Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav," Sunil Gavaskar said. The other two names were that of all-rounder Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik.

What's next?

Karthik will have ample chances to prove his case during the T20 series against Australia and the upcoming IPL campaign. Will a stellar IPL campaign strengthen his credentials to be picked in India's World Cup roster? We'll have to wait and see.