Dinesh Karthik out of the T20 World Cup against Zimbabwe© AFP
Team India defeated Zimbabwe in their final Super 12 Group 2 match of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Sunday at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The team, coached by Rohit Sharma, automatically qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament after the Netherlands beat South Africa by 13 runs. The victory helped India lead Group 2. In the first four games of the current tournament, the India team gave goalkeeper Dinesh Karthik a chance instead of Rishabh Pant. However, Kathik did not put up a good performance. But against Zimbabwe, Rishabh Pant had a chance in the starting XI and Karthik had to sit out.
Speaking about the change India had made to their starting XI for the game, former Indian leader Zaheer Khan said that Karthik failed to make the most of the opportunities that came his way in the tournament.
“I was not entirely convinced of Dinesh Karthik’s state of mind. The team management believed in that, but you don’t see what you can get out of it in this tournament. Dinesh Karthik had a few chances where it could have worked and when the pressure guy, who goes at bat with the expectation of a finisher, had those chances against South Africa but couldn’t take them so you have to judge someone on the basis that Rishabh Pant came to the party and showed that he is ready, then you should make that change, because that change could be very helpful,” Zaheer said in a video posted on Criccbuzz.
In the four games Karthik could only score 1, 0, 6 and 7 points.
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In the match, India averaged 186/5 in 20 overs after opting to hit Zimbabwe first. Suryakumar Yadav was the star of the Indian team by connecting 61 runs from 25 balls. Apart from him, KL Rahul hit 51 runs for 35 balls.
Zimbabwe were never in the hunt and were ultimately eliminated by 115.
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Source: sports.ndtv.com
