England vs India: Virender Sehwag makes the tough call between Karthik and Raina for the first ODI

Team India is all set to take on England in the first of the three One-Day Internationals at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Thursday. The visitors have a happy headache of choosing the playing XI from a talented pool of players and there is a possibility that they might go with KL Rahul at number 4 for this series. But his inclusion leaves Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina fighting for the only place and Virender Sehwag has split beans over whom he will prefer for the first ODI.

Karthik has been around with the team for some time now and was key in India’s Nidahas Trophy victory in March. Raina, on the other hand, is coming back into the ODI side after a long gap of close to three years. But he has also pressed his case forward with a superb batting performance in the 5 T20 Internationals on this tour so far. One o them will be unlucky to miss the game in Nottingham on Thursday.

Who does Sehwag pick?

Virender Sehwag, while speaking to India TV, believed that India should go with Dinesh Karthik over Raina as the former is in great form and has the ability to take the attack to the opposition while batting at any position. He also felt that this is the best time for the team to use Karthik’s form and test him ahead of the World Cup in the same country next year.

“I feel Dinesh Karthik might get a chance ahead of Suresh Raina as Karthik’s performance in the Nidahas Trophy and IPL 2018 was impressive. I think now is the best time for Karthik to play,” he said. The 39-year-old also went on to say that Rahul should continue to bat at number 3 much like he did in the T20I series.

“I think KL Rahul should come at No.3 because Dhawan and Rohit will continue to open. Captain Kohli will come at No.4. I feel this will be India’s batting order. I don’t feel there will be too many changes to the playing XI,” he added. Now it remains to be seen if Virat Kohli will give away his number 3 position to the in-form Rahul in ODIs as well.

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