Dinesh Karthik Wants This Team India Batter To Bat Up The Order

India’s wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik addressed the issue and suggested promoting Deepak Hooda up in the batting order and giving Jitesh Sharma a chance at the No 6 spot.

Dinesh Karthik in action.

Source : Getty

There is a lot of competition for spots in the Indian cricket team. Over the years, many newcomers have been knocking on the doors of the senior team, still team India have been struggling to find a full-fledged finisher in T20I cricket. 

India’s wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik addressed the issue and suggested promoting Deepak Hooda up in the batting order and giving Jitesh Sharma a chance at the No 6 spot.

"To be consistent is the hardest thing at 5, 6, 7, especially at 6 and 7. So Deepak Hooda, even though he has done really well at No.3, for some reason they feel he can do the job at No.6 and 7. I feel this is going to be a big challenge for him. Through his IPL career, barring Lucknow Super Giants, he is someone who has batted through the middle, at No.5 or 6, and hasn't had great success. He fancies himself as a top-order batter. He rediscovered himself when he went from Baroda to Rajasthan. He likes batting in the powerplay. He likes to take the game on. But right now, in the recently-concluded Sri Lanka series, he did decently well at No.6 and it was a great opportunity for him," Karthik spoke in a chat with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.

“Jitesh Sharma is a home-grown No.6 batsman. He is someone who likes batting there and would hence enjoy the situation a lot more. Her has batted there and has trained himself to bat there. But in this series, I don't see him playing. Now it is Deepak Hooda. But I do think if he is under pressure they should give him that opportunity at No.3 before they decide to move on from him,” Karthik added.

Currently, the Men in blue are playing a T20I series against New Zealand where the Indian team lost the first match. The second match will be taking place at Lucknow on Sunday.

Squads:

India: Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan(w), Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jitesh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Prithvi Shaw.

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Jacob Duffy, Michael Rippon, Dane Cleaver, Henry Shipley, Ben Lister.