Asia Cup 2022: The two most significant blunders that team India made while dropping Dinesh Karthik

After Ravindra Jadeja's injury, Axar Patel was called in as his replacement, but the skipper made different and unexpected changes in the squad. Team India, for the second match against Pakistan, left their specialist finisher, Dinesh Karthik, out of the playing XI and kept Rishabh Pant in his place as wicketkeeper-batter.

This left Deepak Hooda to take the role of a finisher with Virat Kohli in the end. India fell short of 10-15 runs as death batting requires some unorthodox style of playing, which was missing in the players playing.

When Virat Kohli was running for doubles, and even a great short by Deepak Hooda could be converted into singles, every Indian fan missed Dinesh Karthik.

Dinesh Karthik's resurgence in the T20 format as a finisher from IPL 2022 has helped India in plenty of the assignments this summer. His current style fits well with the team's batting template and approach. His determination to perform was a strong proof of his worth amid Rishabh Pant's hot and cold performances.

When Rishabh Pant was dropped for Dinesh Karthik in the first match against Pakistan, that raised many questions about where the management sees the young player in the format; still, yesterday, when he was included in place of Dinesh Karthik, the difference was felt by everyone.

Unlike Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant neither played the attacking game nor looked comfortable in taking doubles.

Cricket journalist Prasenjit Dey wrote, "I don't like this decision of benching Dinesh Karthik. Necessary to play him now that Jadeja is out. As I keep saying, India need to make the changes at the top of the order, not in the middle order. #INDvPAK."

The other point of debate that triggered in the last match was not including Axar Patel in the playing XI. Called in as a replacement for Ravindra Jadeja, he ticks all the boxes that India could have needed. A handy left-arm batter to maintain the combination combined with his wicket-taking capabilities, he could have been a better player to consider in place of Deepak Hooda down the order.

India will need to consider the necessary tactical changes for upcoming fixtures, which again involves a dilemma surrounding a good finisher in the form of Dinesh Karthik in place of Rishabh Pant and all-rounder preference between Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel.