India thumped Pakistan in their first outing of the Asia Cup 2022 and there was one surprise in the selection that no Indian fan could have predicted. Rishabh Pant was left out of the squad and Dinesh Karthik played ahead of him and it baffled the Indian fans. Many former cricketers were not happy with the move and backed the southpaw saying that he was India’s future.
Post-match, Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja attended a press conference and opined on the selection when one of the journalists enquired about it. The Gujarat-born was happy to reply in an eccentric way and said that he was unaware of the reason behind it. “I absolutely don’t know this. This is a question out of my book,” Jadeja replied.
— Guess Karo (@KuchNahiUkhada) August 30, 2022
Dinesh Karthik did not get a chance to face a lot of balls as he came in the last over of the chase and it was Hardik Pandya who eventually won the match for India. The all-rounder’s reply has now ignited the speculations further and fans are even more puzzled about Pant’s exclusion from the team.
India to take on Hong Kong on Wednesday (August 31, 2022)
India will take on Hong Kong, the winners of the qualifiers on Wednesday and all eyes will be on the latter to see if they can come up with surprises. The last time they played against India was in the 2018 Asia Cup, they lost the match against the Men in Blue by just 26 runs.
The Indian team management can give a go-ahead to all youngsters and rest senior players for the match against the Nizakat Khan-led team. However, core players like Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma might play the match and might as well lead India to the next round of the tournament.
This will be the first outing for Hong Kong and will look to start the tournament in style. The team will face Pakistan in their second outing on September 2nd and the road looks tough for them to make it to the next round.
