IND vs SL: Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant, a recurring question

Needing two wins to reach Asia Cup final, India take on big chasers Sri Lanka

India have a batting problem. As of now, it doesn’t involve the top three that gave a stellar performance against Pakistan on Sunday. Hardik Pandya got out to a great incoming delivery and it wasn’t probably Suryakumar Yadav’s day too. But in the aftermath of Rishabh Pant going for a needless reverse sweep when India needed one of their middle-order batters to stay put, it’s worth asking if he still merits a chance ahead of Dinesh Karthik who at least has current form—as designated slog overs specialist—going for him.

India wicketkeeper-batters Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik (Twitter)

Contrary to what optics—Pant’s ridiculous Test hundreds may have unwittingly added to it—might suggest, Pant’s T20I strike rate has never been outstanding. In the two matches, he had opened during the UK tour, it was 135. But between No 4 and 5—positions where Pant has batted 40 out of 49 innings of his T20I career—his strike rate has hovered around the mid-120s. That’s never a flattering number in a format where a middle-order batter is expected to accelerate within no time.

Pant being a left-hander may be a reason to keep him in the eleven but if he doesn’t score, he won’t trouble bowlers anyway. Karthik as a slog-overs specialist with Axar Patel—who too bats left-handed—instead of Pant not only opens up another like-for-like bowling option for the injured Ravindra Jadeja but also takes some load off Pandya.

This conundrum is set to bother India most as they take on Sri Lanka on Tuesday knowing well they need to win the remaining two Super 4 matches—the other being against Afghanistan, on Thursday—to make it to the final. Not just for the Asia Cup, India would be hoping they solve this middle-order dilemma well in time before the T20 World Cup next month. Now chief coach Rahul Dravid has said this squad may not be the same that ultimately goes to the World Cup but that also doesn't mean India's preparations will be affected.

"There's not going to be any workload management over the next three or four days, unless of course it's forced upon us like, for example, Jadeja," Dravid had said before the Pakistan match. "Other than that, we're looking at every single game to win it, try and win this tournament and do the best that we can. We'll have time after that to manage the workloads. From now on leading into the World Cup, we really want to be playing our best squad as and when possible."

If that’s really the case, India will have to be pragmatic about the choice between Pant and Karthik in Tuesday’s Super 4 match against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka have regained some semblance of form in recent T20Is, especially when they have chased. They chased down Afghanistan’s 175 on Saturday. Before that too, they chased down 177 against Australia in Pallekele and 184 against Bangladesh in the group phase of the Asia Cup.

Saturday’s four-wicket win was unusual considering no Sri Lankan batter had crossed 40 and yet they won with five balls to spare. Kusal Mendis set up the chase with a 19-ball 36, with opener Pathum Nissanka scoring a 28-ball 36 in an opening stand of 62. Both fell in the space of nine balls but Danushka Gunathilaka’s 20-ball 33 prevented Sri Lanka’s chase from getting derailed. It was No 6 Bhanuka Rajapaksa's 14-ball 31 though that really won them the game. Sri Lanka’s ability to dig deep in big chases will keep India on tenterhooks, given they couldn’t defend 181 against Pakistan. It could have been different had Pandya and Pant not got out in quick succession. And that is what India must aim to correct going forward.