Former Indian keeper-batter and commentator Dinesh Karthik has asserted that the Indian team should continue with their playing XI without making any major changes after their six-wicket defeat to the West Indies in the second T20I in Ranchi.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Karthik stated that if he were in the Indian dressing room, he wouldn’t make too many changes to the playing XI. In the 250-run chase, West Indies batters secured a six-wicket win with nine balls to spare.
“Will they look at an extra pacer if they feel it is required? So maybe Prince in for one of the spinners. At the same time, genuinely, if I were in the Indian dressing room, I would not change it up too much. I think they are playing a strong XI. Obviously, if you want to play Nitish Kumar Reddy, I don’t see how they can fit in anybody. Unless you are resting somebody and the communication is very clear, I don’t see why you should change based on this game,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir, who attended the post-match press conference, advised the Indian bowlers to find a way to counter the run-flow, especially on flat surfaces.
“You don’t shrug off any defeat. If you want to keep improving, you don’t want to put anything under the carpet. We are a world champion team, so we want to keep improving,” Gambhir said during the post-match press conference.
“And obviously these are tough conditions to bowl. We know that flat wickets with the dew, obviously it’s tough. But we need to figure out the way…to try and stop the opposition, especially when they lost two wickets in the first over and then lost three in the first six,” he added.
