Former Indian keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has questioned the Indian team management for axing the all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy for the second ODI in Guwahati. Interestingly, Reddy was benched in favour of the Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi.
Notably, Reddy ended the first ODI with the figures of 1/45 in five overs in Trivandrum. For the unversed, he was drafted into the ODI squad as a late inclusion after initially being named in the T20I squad for the Asian Games 2026.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Karthik asserted that the decision to leave Reddy out of the XI shouldn’t have been because of his last match’s performance, adding that the team management should have backed him for this fixture.
“I wish it’s not done because he did not have a good game. You have got to understand that he is not at the pace of Hardik Pandya, but what he seems to have is a similar skill set. If you see it from Nitish Kumar Reddy’s shoes, he is not a part of the Asian Games because they wanted him to be part of ODIs, because he could be an important cog for the future. If they have dropped him based on the last match’s performance, I would feel that is a bit short-sighted. Any young bowler coming through might go for runs, but that is when you back him,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Shifting our focus to the details of the second ODI, the West Indies batted first after losing the toss and they posted a whopping total of 405/7 in 50 overs. John Campbell (101), Shai Hope (104) and Amir Jangoo (114) were the top batters.
In the chase, India finished the game in 43.3 overs with eight wickets in hand. Rohit Sharma (101) and Shubman Gill (223*) were the top batters as India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-game series.
