“He is the player of our time”- Reetinder Singh on Dinesh Karthik's inclusion ahead of Rishabh Pant after T20 World Cup debacle

Former Indian player Reetinder Singh Sodhi has slammed the Indian team management after they failed to win the recently-concluded T20 World Cup.

The veteran said that Rishabh Pant should have always been the first-choice wicketkeeper ahead of Dinesh Karthik in the showpiece T20 event.

The statement comes after Karthik failed to put on a show in the premier tournament. The 37-year-old could only score 14 runs in three innings, including six off 15 deliveries against South Africa.

Pant replaced him for the final group stage match against Zimbabwe and the knockout tie versus England, but the southpaw too failed to make an impact in those games, scoring three and six runs, respectively.

Speaking to India News, Reetinder Sodhi said:

"Rishabh Pant, a champion player, didn’t know whether he would play. DK tried and tested. He is the player of our time. I accept that he has maintained his fitness. He is a good match-winner and strikes the ball very well, but when you compare him with Rishabh Pant, then Rishabh Pant is always the first choice. Why DK? That is where the Indian team needs to give a lot of answers."

While Karthik’s future in the Indian cricket team seems to be over, Pant has been named as Hardik Pandya’s deputy for the upcoming T20I series in New Zealand.

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“He goes there and becomes your premier bowler” – Reetinder Singh Sodhi questions Ravichandran Ashwin’s place ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal in T20 World Cup

Sodhi also questioned why the Indian team management decided to play all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal throughout the T20 World Cup.

For those not in the know, Ashwin proved to be the most expensive bowler against England in the semi-final, conceding 27 runs off two overs.

Chahal, meanwhile, did not play a game in the T20 World Cup despite picking up 21 wickets in 19 T20Is at an economy of 7.6 this year.

Speaking on the same show, he said:

“Yuzvendra Chahal, a match winner, you don’t play him. He becomes a mere passenger. Why? It’s because you have a very important bowler and there is no place for him.”

He continued:

“You play R Ashwin. There were even questions about whether he will play T20 or not. Should he be part of the team or not? He goes there and becomes your premier bowler. Lots of questions have to be answered because this T20 World Cup loss has pushed us into an introspection mode.”

Chahal will next be seen in action during the opening T20I vs New Zealand on Friday (November 18). The action will then shift to Mount Maunganui (November 20) and Napier (November 22) for the next two T20Is.

India squad for T20Is: Hardik Pandya (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik.