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India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik who will be a part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 commentary panel has shared his predicted XI on the eve of Nagpur Test. Unlike the rumours that have been floating around, Karthik has advocated a combination of three spinners and two pacers on the rank turner.
Kuldeep Yadav who picked a fifer against Bangladesh on his return to Test cricket is missing from his predicted XI. When the left-arm chinaman bowler was dropped from second Test against Bangladesh last year, many criticised stand-in skipper KL Rahul and Rahul Dravid for the decision.
Also, Karthik feels that India’s T20I speciallist Suryakumar Yadav will make his Test debut on a surface where a quick fifty will be crucial. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer has picked Suryakumar over Shubman Gill who has been in tremendous form of late.
The 37-year-old picked Srikar Bharat over Ishan Kishan as India’s wicketkeeper. Bharat is expected to make his Test debut in the absence of Rishabh Pant who is recovering after getting involved in a horrific car accident last year.
Karthik’s predicted XI for Nagpur Test –
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
On February 7, Karthik also picked his five key players for the four-Test series in an Instagram reel titled DK Style.
“The first two are obvious choices Virat Kohli for India and Steve Smith for Australia. Virat Kohli mainly because when he gets going he makes it big and he is always troubling the Australians,” Karthik said.
“On the other hand, very similarly Steven Smith has got plenty of runs against India and is arguably Australia’s best batter against spin. If Australia want to create a dent in the series it has to be from Steven Smith’s plate” he added.
While Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the first Test due to an injury, Karthik has named him as a critical player for the remaining three Tests.
“The last for me is a very critical player. According to me I feel India will definitely play on tracks that aid spin and Shreyas Iyer is someone who plays spin beautifully. If he gets going, especially against spin, he can hit a ball a long way and cause a lot of trouble,” the veteran wicketkeeper-batter said.
