Murali Kartik says he would choose Dinesh Karthik over Suresh Raina in the middle-order

With the scores tied at 1-1, Team India will be gunning for a victory in the third and final T20I against the English. Virat Kohli & Co. ran away to a victory in the first match courtesy of a dominant display with the ball by Kuldeep Yadav and a scintillating batting performance by KL Rahul, who scored a quickfire century. But then the batting line-up, especially the middle-order, failed to lead India to a strong total as the home team comfortably chased down a target of 149 and levelled the series. 

However, former Indian spinner Murali Kartik has voiced his concern regarding the lack of a stable batsman in the middle-order of the batting line-up. Kartik has said that he would choose to give his namesake Dinesh Karthik a chance in the starting XI instead of the misfiring Suresh Raina.

“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 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,” Karthik was quoted during a show on ESPNCricinfo.

So far in four matches on India’s tour of the United Kingdom, Karthik has only been given one chance to prove himself when he played in the second T20I versus Ireland at the Malahide Cricket Ground. However, he failed to get an opportunity to bat in that game as well.