Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant is still struggling to find his mojo back with the willow in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). The misfiring Pant has so far mustered 281 runs in a total of 11 matches at a strike rate of 152.71 but has failed to convert his starts into meaningful contributions.
On the contrary, the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the IPL 2022 mega auction for INR 5.50 crore, has consistently delivered sensational performances for his team in the 15th edition of the cash-rich league. Riding on a red-hot form he has amassed 274 runs in 12 matches coming down the order and has won some crunch game for the team.
While talking to Sports Tak, cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar spoke at length about both Pant and Karthik and analysed their performances in the underway glitzy league.
When asked about Pant's underwhelming show in the IPL 2022 Gavaskar said that the left-hander need not to always play his attacking game and advised him to have some patience and play till the end.
"Pant is not playing till the end but the problem with him is he starts attacking the ball as soon as he gets on the wicket and eventually end up throwing away his wicket. His approach is to hit six every ball. But you have to show some patience here. There is no denying that Pant is a game changer but being Delhi Capitals skipper, he will have to show a different game. Batting at no.4, he will have to score 70-80 odd runs if he wants his side to qualify for playoffs," Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
Gavaskar bats for Karthik's place in India's T20 WC squad
Meanwhile, Karthik has looked dangerous as a finisher and he has dominated almost every bowling attack he has played against in the tournament.
While Analysing Karthik's peformance in the IPL 2022 and his future prospect Gavaskar said," Last year I was in the commentary box with Dinesh. Before that, I and he had to do a 10-day quarantine. Then we both spent a lot of time together. During that time I came to know how excited Karthik is to return to the 22-yard. Karthik had said only last year that he wants to play the T20 World Cup in UAE and the T20 World Cup to be held this year. Last year he was not picked in the team. But the way he has performed this year, if I were a selector, I would have definitely taken him in the team. He is a high-profile class player and is also in a red-hot form. He deserves every bit of it to make it to the India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, I see Karthik in the team as a batsman. He bats first and then stands behind the wicket for 20 overs, which is a commendable thing to do considering his age. And as far as wicketkeeping is concerned, we already have two wicketkeepers an options. One is Pant and the other one is KL Rahul. But with Karthik, you can add another wicketkeeper to the team, making it a team loaded with three wicket-keeper batsmen".
