Dinesh Karthik's ODI career is over, feels Sanjay Manjrekar

Not many would have expected the selectors to announce big changes for the upcoming ODI series against Australia. The forthcoming series against the reigning world champions will be India’s last assignment before they fly out to England and Wales for the much-awaited ICC World Cup. Not surprisingly, it was speculated that the MSK Prasad-led panel would refrain from making any big calls and would allow the players to get some more game time.

However, the current selection panel once again sprung a huge surprise by dropping Dinesh Karthik from the ODI squad.  In his place, the highly-rated Rishabh Pant has been recalled to the 50-overs side. But while Pant’s inclusion was very much on the cards, not many were expecting Karthik to get the boot and the reasons are obvious. For the last one year or so, Karthik has been groomed as the finisher of the team.

With MS Dhoni’s finishing abilities on the decline, the team seemed to have pinned its hopes on Karthik. In return, Karthik also played his role brilliantly, guiding India over the line in several close chases with the final of the Nidahas Trophy being one of the best. Since 2017 Champions Trophy, he has played 20 matches, scoring 425 runs at an average of 47.22 which includes eight unbeaten knocks.

End of the road for Karthik:

Despite his impressive performances over the last 12 months, Karthik faced the axe for some reason known only to MSK Prasad and his colleagues.  And in the wake of the latest snub, former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels it is the end of the road for Karthik in ODIs.

“His fans will feel sorry because with the opportunity he has got, he has done as well as he could but I feel with this selection or non-selection of Karthik, India have told everyone that we look at Karthik as a T20 batsman and his 50-over future is over as far as we are concerned,” said Manjrekar in conversation with ESPNCricinfo.

“He has done well in the opportunities he has got, but he has been around for a long time and the selectors are thinking just like me – World Cup, big stage, big match, 50-overs cricket, Dinesh Karthik. Ambati Rayudu by playing that innings in New Zealand when he put India on the track of recovery and got the team to get a big score. Dinesh Karthik hasn’t played that kind of an innings.

He has mostly played the role of a finisher. So this is where the numbers are disregarded by the selectors, the captain, the management and they are thinking temperamentally so far what we have seen of Karthik, is he someone who will excite us a 50-overs cricket at World Cup and they have said no and I don’t grudge them for that,” he added.

Karthik, nonetheless, will be looking to impress in the upcoming Indian Premier League and revive his chances as the selectors are certain to keep a keen eye on the league as well as the wicketkeeper-batsman.

[interaction id=”5c63ec1734b4f424f0a7ad58″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.