Former Indian keeper-batter and commentator Dinesh Karthik has expressed his views on the all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy’s performances in the three-match ODI series against the West Indies, which India won by 2-1.
Notably, Reddy was a late addition to the ODI squad for the West Indies series at home. Initially, he was part of the Asian Games squad in Japan. However, the young all-rounder couldn’t create a major impact with both bat and ball in two games.
Speaking to Cricbuzz in an exclusive interaction, Karthik asserted that there have been more questions than answers with respect to the bowling unit. However, he doesn’t want to judge them with a harsh lens as all three games were played on flat tracks.
“Overall, I don’t think bowling was really up to the mark. Obviously, to give more than 1000 runs in a three-match series basically means that your bowlers have not been as good as they should be. Kuldeep Yadav has been among the wickets but economically not that great. The pacers have been rotated. Nitish Kumar Reddy has not given what Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill will be looking for. There are more questions than answers with the bowling unit. That is something that they will be aware of, but the fact is that it’s such flat pitches, I don’t want to judge them with a very harsh lens because both teams went for a lot of runs,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, former Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, who was also part of the conversation, reckoned that the Indian team management would be a bit worried about the back-up bowlers not creating an impact.
“This is an inexperienced bowling attack, we all know that. But the Indian team will be a little concerned, for sure. We saw what happened without Bumrah. We wish that Bumrah is fit and fine till the World Cup and that nothing happens to him, but in cricket anything can happen. What are our options after him? The Indian team will be thinking about how they can give the bowlers confidence. There will be doubts created,” Ajinkya Rahane said on Cricbuzz.
