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Cricket Players'What is Dinesh Karthik's problem?': Gambhir lashes out at senior gloveman after his batting failure vs SA at T20 WC
Gautam Gambhir didn't mince words when the former India opener reflected on Dinesh Karthik's frustrating knock against South Africa in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Perth Stadium on Sunday.
It seems like former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has fired a fresh salvo at Dinesh Karthik after the veteran wicketkeeper-batter showcased another batting failure in the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday. A lot was expected from Karthik when the senior batter joined an on-song Suryakumar Yadav at the crease during India's innings against South Africa in Perth.
Karthik walked out to bat after India were reduced to 49-5 in 8.3 overs. Lungi Ngidi-inspired pace attack was breathing fire at the Perth Stadium as India lost KL Rahul (9), Rohit (15), Virat Kohli (12), Deepak Hooda (0) and Hardik Pandya (2) for paltry individual scores. While many expected Karthik to take over the role of the finisher and resurrected Indian innings with Suryakumar, the veteran wicketkeeper-batter ended up playing a forgetful knock against the Proteas.
Speaking to official broadcaster Star Sports about Karthik's batting no-show against the Proteas, Gambhir opined that the senior batter lacks clarity when he is batting in the middle overs. "What is Dinesh Karthik's problem? If he gets a lot of balls to face, he is not able to figure out the tempo at which he has to bat. If he gets just 10-12 balls, then there is clarity in his mind. He is then able to take on the bowlers. If there are 7-8 overs remaining, then he doesn't have clarity over whether he should rotate the strike or block," Gambhir said.
Karthik played a frustrating knock of 6 off 15 balls in the low-scoring encounter between India and South Africa at the Perth Stadium. Riding on Suryakumar's brilliant 68-run knock off 40 balls, India managed to post 133-9 in 20 overs. However, India's batting disasterclass against South Africa paved the way for the David Miller-starrer side to register a 5-wicket win over the 2007 world champions.
"With the experience that Dinesh Karthik has, it's important that he figures out the tempo and the time to attack. He can attack any bowler, he has all the shots in the book. He is a finisher too. But there are situations when your team is 5 down in the first 10 overs, then does he have the temperament to bat accordingly and build a partnership, go at run-a-ball and give yourself a chance to attack the bowlers at the death," Gambhir added.
During South Africa's innings at Perth, wicketkeeper Karthik suffered a back injury and the senior gloveman was replaced by Rishabh Pant, who kept wickets for the remainder of the innings. Southpaw Pant is expected to replace Karthik in the Indian XI if the senior batter fails to recover from the back injury in time. India will meet Bangladesh in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.
"He got out at the wrong time. But even if you had looked at him before that, he didn't look confident during that knock. He didn't have any tempo to his batting. Neither did he rotate the strike nor did he play confident shots," he concluded.
