With due respect to Dinesh Karthik but Rishabh Pant can add far more value to Team India: Saba Karim

New Delhi, Aug 31: Former India cricketer and former selector Saba Karim believes Rishabh Pant is too good a player to be sitting on the bench in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. Pant was not selected for the tournament opener against Pakistan in Dubai and senior wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was given a preference. The Bengal cricketer even claimed that he would pick Pant over Karthik on any given day because the latter is the future of Indian cricket.

Karim also lavished praise upon all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja - who was promoted up in the batting order against Pakistan - for encashing the opportunity with both hands. The cricketer-turned-commentator also believes that because Karthik is in the playing eleven, Jadeja could be used as a floater.

Speaking exclusively on SPORTS18's daily sports news show 'SPORTS OVER THE TOP', Karim decoded why the Saurashtra all-rounder is playing in the top order, and said, "I think at least for the Asia cup, the Indian team management seems to have decided to have Dinesh Karthik and that is why they want to utilise Ravindra Jadeja as a floater. So, we saw him going up the order at number 4 in the last outing and we may see that happen more often as the game progresses because Jadeja brings a different kind of dimension. Also, he's become such a mature left-hand bat who can bat up the order at number 4 or number 5 and if there's an opportunity, he can also come down the order and score quick runs.

"So, which means that as of now there's no place for Rishabh Pant in the 11. But having said that I do believe that Rishabh Pant is such an X factor. He can win you games from situations where the team has got no chance whatsoever. So why would you want to keep someone like Rishabh Pant out of the 11," he added further.

While speaking about Pant's not-so-impressive T20 records, Karim claimed that the southpaw needs to come out of his conundrum but the talented cricketer has shown glimpses of his greatness in Tests and ODIs. The 54-year-old wants the Delhi cricketer to get more opportunities to prove his mettle in the shortest format of the game.

Speaking about Pant further, Karim said, "That is the conundrum which Rishabh Pant needs to come out of. But lately one has seen those glimpses of the kind of form he's exhibited in Test matches. We saw him play a blinder of an innings in one day against England. And similarly, there have been some great performances. Maybe not on a consistent basis, but I do believe that there's still so much for Rishabh Pant to learn in T20 cricket. He's become a much better player now, but I think with more exposure one can see Rishabh Pant growing in confidence and adding far more value to this T20 side also."

Expressing his surprise about Karthik getting a preference over Pant in the Asia Cup playing XI, Karim said, "I was surprised because I do stick to my earlier stand of having Pant in the side in place of Dinesh Karthik because I always felt that we need to look ahead and even now I do believe that Rishabh Pant can add far more value with due respect to Dinesh Karthik than Dinesh Karthik. But there can be possible explanations over there about which one can chat."