Dinesh Karthik Monday returned to India's World Cup squad after 12 years, trumping Mahendra Singh Dhoni's heir apparent Rishabh Pant in a selection move that will be debated for a long time.
The second wicketkeeper was the sole bone of contention for the marquee event starting in England and Wales on May 30 and the 33-year-old Karthik's experience of 91 ODIs gave him the edge over the 21-year-old Pant, according to the five-member selection panel headed by MSK Prasad.
Karthik, the oldest Indian player in terms of international debut (three months before Mahendra Singh Dhoni in September 2004), was also part of the Indian squad during its disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign. He, however, missed the bus in 2011 and the 2015 editions.
In the squad that was announced Monday, Dhoni will be playing his fourth, expected to be the final, 50-over World Cup. Kohli will play his third edition while Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were all a part of the 2015 edition.
India captain Kohli's pre-IPL statement that the cash-rich league will have no effect on the selections proved to be prophetic as Pant's 245 runs in the T20 showpiece fell short of Karthik's 111 runs.
Naturally, Prasad had to field the maximum questions on Pant's omission and the explanation was Tamil Nadu stumper's experience.
"It is definitely a case which we have debated at length. In unison, we felt either DK or Pant will only come into the playing eleven if Mahi is injured. So, at that juncture if it is a crucial match, a quarterfinal or a semifinal, keeping also matters," Prasad told reporters after the announcement of the squad
"And in the second part of the tournament, when the wickets will be more dry, we felt Jadeja will be handy."
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