After winning the first T20I of the three-match series in Manchester, Team India lost a close game in Cardiff and will now be looking forward to defeating England in the final T20I in Bristol. India’s batting gave a bit under par performance in the last match as the top-order terribly failed to chip in with a significant score. Suresh Raina, who didn’t get to bat in the first match, played a useful knock of 27 runs from 20 balls with a couple of boundaries and a four.
More importantly, Raina built a strong partnership of 57 runs with the skipper Virat Kohli and took the Indian team out of trouble as they were down to 22/3 in 4.5 overs. The southpaw was dismissed by the English leg-spinner Adil Rashid in the 13th over. Despite the gutsy knock, Murali Kartik, the former Indian spinner, believes that Dinesh Karthik would be better suited in the lineup.
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As quoted in ESPNcricinfo, Karthik said, “Look, one spot you might look at is Suresh Raina. Yes, he did bat well, but what is the role you have is the only thing because most of his numbers and runs have come at the number, which has been taken over by KL Rahul and you can’t expect Virat Kohli to bat any further down. So is there a chance for somebody like Karthik to be brought into the team because he can play different sort of roles.”
He further added, “He has always been the aggressor and that’s the role he has generally be seen in, coming at five, six, seven and it’s something they can look at. I would always play him, I was a bit surprised and this is something which I asked Virat as well. I said that it must be tough for him to drop somebody like Karthik, but such is the strength in the team.”
In four matches on India’s tour of the United Kingdom (UK), DK was included in the playing XI just for the second T20I versus Ireland at the Malahide Cricket Ground. However, he didn’t bat in that match. It will be interesting to see whether the team management decides to make any change and drafts in Karthik or not.
