He is good as a commentator but I would not pick Dinesh Karthik in Indian team – Ajay Jadeja

Former Indian batter Ajay Jadeja has opined that he would not pick Dinesh Karthik in the Indian team for the upcoming matches. Karthik has been doing a decent job as a finisher for Team India in the recent past but Jadeja feels the batter is better off as a commentator.

Karthik had scored an unbeaten knock of 41 runs off just 19 balls in the first T20I against West Indies and he was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine knock.

Meanwhile, Karthik had scored 330 runs in 16 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022 at an average of 55 and a strike rate of 183.33.

The right-hander has been picked to play the finisher role by the selectors and he has been doing a good job while batting down the order. In fact, it is not an easy role to play as Karthik is supposed to hit the ground running but he has been able to deliver the goods.

Jadeja feels Karthik’s selection in the team will depend on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

Ajay Jadeja said on Fan code: “Now if you want to play the way I have heard them…aggressive then you have to pick differently. If Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma walk in, you need Dinesh Karthik at all cost. He is your insurance. But if you don’t have either of them then Dinesh Karthik has no work here. But yes I would not put Karthik there, he can have a seat beside me. He is very good as a commentator. But there, in the team, I would not pick him.”

Meanwhile, Jadeja added that he would have Mohammed Shami in the squad. Shami wasn’t picked for the Asia Cup squad on Monday by the selectors. The fast bowler is not in the scheme of things in the T20I format as he had played his last game in the 2021 T20 World Cup. However, Shami had scalped 20 wickets in 16 matches for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022.

“I have added Shami to the team. So for me, I select bowlers first. So Shami is a certainty. Bumrah, Arshdeep and Chahal. These are the four certainties. In batting, four are certainties for me – Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, and Deepak Hooda. For this bowling attack, you have powerplay, middle overs and death overs sorted.”

India’s squad for the 2022 Asia Cup Rohit Sharma (Capt ), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Y Chahal, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.