India’s batting looks vulnerable without Kohli; Rahul must replace Karthik in ODI team: Ganguly

Ganguly argued that Rahul is a much better batsman than Karthik and should have been part of the Indian team for Asia Cup 2018 in UAE.

Former India skipper Soruav Ganguly believes that KL Rahul must replace Dinesh Karthik in the ODI team keeping the 2019 World Cup in mind. Ganguly argued that Rahul is a much better batsman than Karthik and therefore, should have been included in the Indian team for the ongoing Asia Cup 2018.

File image of former India captain Sourav Ganguly. (Getty Images)

Karthik is currently with the Indian team that is taking part in the Asia Cup 2018 and in the three matches, the right-hander has contributed 1*, 31* and 33.

“I respect all the players in the current team as I myself have played the game for a long time but I still feel that India should have gone for Rahul instead of Karthik,” Ganguly told India TV.

“In England, everyone saw that Karthik couldn’t score runs. And if you are looking to build a team for the World Cup, Rahul and Rishabh Pant’s name should come before Karthik’s. The latter deserves to be in the team only if he is the wicket-keeper , otherwise, Rahul is a far better player than him,” he added.

“The one thing that scares me is that the World cup is not far away, while the Indian batting without Kohli looks vulnerable. Dinesh Karthik’s career is on the wane, MS is not in his prime anymore, Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu are making comebacks,” Ganguly said.

So, if you are playing four such batsmen who are not settled in this format and not a certainty in the team then it looks like the selectors are compromising with quality in the team. So the mindset needs to change,” he added.