Senior wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik will be a doubtful starter for India’s next T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh on Wednesday as he is suffering from back spasms which forced him to leave the field during the last five overs of the South Africa game. Karthik’s injury could pave way for Rishabh Pant’s entry into the playing XI. Pant kept wickets from the 16th over till the end of the game against South Africa on Sunday after Karthik was forced to leave the field due to pain. The primary reason could be extremely cold conditions which can cause these kinds of niggles. The extent of severity of the back spasm couldn’t be confirmed but normally it takes anything between three to five days for pain to heal, if it is a minor one.
“Karthik felt pain in his lower back. We haven’t heard about the severity of his back spasm. The medical team is working to get him fit as heat treatment and massaging helps reduce the discomfort, quickly. So don’t rule him out yet,” a senior BCCI official privy to development told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Karthik has had an underwhelming tournament so far as he scored 1 against Pakistan and 6 off 15 balls against South Africa. He is a designated finisher but not being able to cope with pace and bounce on offer at the Optus Stadium in Perth with not much support for Suryakumar Yadav in their 52-run stand did invite a bit of criticism. Indian coaching team has also faced some flak for keeping a counter-attacking player like Pant out of the side. In Test matches, Pant has enjoyed stupendous success in Australia. He is a better player of horizontal bat shots as compared to Karthik.
