Former Indian keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has said India cannot use its explosive top-order combination of Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sanju Samson in the forthcoming five-match T20I series against the West Indies.
Notably, Team India used Sharma, Sooryavanshi and Samson as their top three batters in the just-concluded Asian Games 2026 campaign. Interestingly, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma came down the order.
Speaking to Cricbuzz in an exclusive interaction, Karthik reckoned that the Indian team management should field one extra frontline seamer by removing one of the top three batters from the playing XI.
“Not really, because you will need more pacers. There in Japan, we just played one pacer. In India, you will need two pacers, if not three. So, you will definitely not see that (the same batting order). As far as the bowling is concerned, Jasprit Bumrah is rested for this series, it gives him an opportunity to breathe before he goes to New Zealand,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
“You can definitely see the focus of the Indian team is on Test cricket right now. T20 is not something that they are going to put their heart and soul into in terms of looking at what they want because there is a lot of time before the next World Cup,” he added.
Interestingly, Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the T20I series against the West Indies, with Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav and Mayank Yadav named in the line-up.
India’s squad for five-match T20I series against West Indies:
Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Sanju Samson [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir
