T20 World Cup 2022: Rishabh Pant likely to replace injured Dinesh Karthik – Reports

It has been reported that Rishabh Pant is likely to replace injured Dinesh Karthik in the match against Bangladesh, which will be played at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday. Karthik had walked off the field against South Africa after he had suffered a lower back injury.

Pant had then taken over the wicket-keeping duties as a substitute player. Karthik has been preferred ahead of Pant in the first three matches of the T20 World Cup but he hasn’t been able to grab his chances. The veteran batter was dismissed for two runs against Pakistan in a high-pressure situation while he could only score six runs against South Africa.

Pant, on the other hand, has an immaculate record in the Australian conditions and also provides a left-handed option to the Indian team.

Rahul Dravid revealed that the call on Karthik will be taken on Wednesday morning.

“Dinesh Karthik had a spasm after he jumped for the ball and landed in such a way that he felt pain thereafter. He is looking fine now and has come for practice with us. He will be undergoing a few sessions in the early morning and then we will assess his situation,” head coach Rahul Dravid said in the pre-match press conference.

On the other hand, Dravid also backed KL Rahul, who has failed to fire at all cylinders so far in the T20I showpiece. Rahul has returned with scores of 4,9, and 9 in the three matches of the marquee event.

Dravid said for Rahul, “We are not bothered by KL’s track record at the moment. He was superb at the warm-up match against Australia and unfortunately, a lot of you weren’t present there. We have made it very clear to KL that he has our full support and we had a lot of clarity about the squad that we were planning to build. It is not at all a challenge for us to back players as we don’t focus on what is happening outside.”

Meanwhile, India will be looking to return back to winning ways after their five-wicket loss against South Africa.

India will face Bangladesh on Wednesday at Adelaide Oval.