Karthik slightly baffled by India's Champions Trophy strategy

Dinesh Karthik is slightly perplexed with India’s choice of going with 5 spinners and leaving Siraj out of Champions Trophy

Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik opined that India going with five spinners in the Champions Trophy was a little too much. The Men in Blue boast of a strong spin unit, featuring Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Varun Chakravarthy. Karthik reckons that India could have gone with four spinners instead. Rohit Sharma and co. will commence their CT 2025 campaign on February 20 as they take on Bangladesh in their tournament opener.

Karthik unsure of India’s 5 spinner strategy for Champions Trophy

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Karthik opined that India’s strategy to include 5 spinners in their Champions Trophy squad indicated that the team was not sure of what exactly to do. He noted that Varun was added to the squad in the last-minute, replacing Yashasvi Jaiswal.

“Five spinners, I personally feel, is a bit too much. They could have done with 4, I felt. And that’s where I do think it shows a little bit of, not confusion, which is probably a strong word, but not being very sure of what exactly to do because they announced a squad and then they added another spinner for an opener,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

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“Siraj could have been the ideal choice”

Further, Karthik claimed that Mohammed Siraj could have been the ideal choice to replace an injured Jasprit Bumrah. However, he said that Harshit Rana had fared well in the IND vs ENG ODI series. He pointed out that Rana was getting the backing from Team India and that they were more impressed with him than Siraj.

“Look, if you had to go with experience, then yes, Siraj could have been the ideal choice, but I thought Harshit bowled very well against England. What I feel is the Indian camp is very impressed with Harshit Rana. I think Harshit Rana was the debate, but I feel Team India backs him right now more than Siraj,” Karthik said.