Dinesh Karthik should get one more chance, feels Gautam Gambhir

Rishabh Pant looks certain to make his debut in the upcoming third Test against England at Trent Bridge. He will replace the struggling Dinesh Karthik who has scored only 21 runs in four innings in this series so far. Moreover, he has conceded 30 byes which is a crime as a wicketkeeper. However, Gautam Gambhir has backed Karthik and feels that he deserves one more opportunity.

The fact that these two are travelling with the Test team is due to an injury to Wridhhiman Saha who underwent a shoulder surgery recently. Karthik was expected to shoulder the responsibility with utter ease considering the form he was in albeit in the limited-overs format. His failure has paved the way for Pant possibly who has impressed every now and then and scored runs for India A against England Lions.

Pant can wait

Gautam Gambhir, while speaking to the Times of India, was of the opinion that Dinesh Karthik, if dropped now, might never be seen in the whites again. He also went on to say that it is always better to give one extra game to the player before dropping him and believed that Rishabh Pant has a long career ahead of him and can wait for his chance.

“There will always be a temptation (to play Pant). I still feel that Dinesh Karthik is at that stage of his career, it’s now or never. So you got to always give someone an extra Test match than one lesser. People would be expecting for him to deliver with the amount of comebacks he’s made but those conditions are tough,” he said.

The 36-year-old also felt that the young Pant has a lot of years ahead of him and will learn more. But Karthik is on the brink of his career and deserves another opportunity. “If you don’t give him an opportunity in the next Test match or one more after that, we might never see him again. Rishabh can wait. He has a lot of years ahead of him. Because 6 innings, to be honest, can give you a better idea where the batter is,” he added.

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