India's star batter Cheteshwar Pujara made a bold claim right ahead of the India-Pakistan's Asia Cup clash on blockbuster Sunday (August 28). He believes it's 'impossible' for Team India to play both the wicketkeeper-batters Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the playing XI during the ongoing Asia Cup 2022, provided the team's star-studded top-order.
Men In Blue's settled top-order features skipper Rohit Sharma, vice captain KL Rahul, batting juggernaut Virat Kohli and ever firing Suryakumar Yadav, who are followed by top-notch all-rounders in Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. With such top-class batting line-up up the order, it becomes really difficult to accommodate both Pant and Karthik into the fray.
"It's a big headache for the team management as both (Pant and Karthik) are doing really well in T20 format. The call is whether you want someone to bat at No.5 or you want a finisher who can bat at No. 6 or 7," Pujara said on ESPNcricinfo T20 Timeout.
"So, I would say, if you want someone at No. 5, Rishabh Pant is a better choice. But if you want to a have a batting line-up with a very good finisher who is likely to play 10 or 20 balls and give you 40-50 runs, I think DK (Karthik) is the better option."
The veteran batter added, "Personally, I think, knowing the team management (and) knowing how things work around the team, I would think they might go with Pant because he is a left-hander and gives the team a bit of balance with left-right combination."
Speaking about Suryakumar, Pujara said he deserves to be there in the XI and should not be dropped to accommodate both Pant and Karthik, given his excellent form in T20 cricket in recent years.
"Surya is one of our top T20 players, so I would definitely want him in the side because he can… he is someone who has done really well for Mumbai Indians (in IPL). Whenever I've seen him at No. 4, he has done exceptionally well.
"So, I don't think the team management will leave him out. If Rishabh and Karthik both have to play then I think you have to drop one of the top-order (batters), which is impossible. So, I don't think both can make the playing XI," said Pujara.
In the event Karthik is not playing, Pujara said all-rounder Hardik has the ability to play the role of finisher.
"I would prefer Hardik for that (finisher's) role because he is someone who can strike from ball one and his strike rate is above 150. I don't think Rishabh can do that job because he needs a little more time.
"And if he (Rishabh) comes in to bat, it should be somewhere around 10 or 12 overs… and if he gets 8-10 overs, he can score a 50 or a bit more than that," added Pujara.
India's squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Pakistan's squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammed Hasnain, Hasan Ali.