Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes that Dinesh Karthik provides a level of flexibility to the Indian cricket team and as a result, he named the veteran ahead of Rishabh Pant while picking the squad for World Cup 2019.

Karthik was not included in India’s squad to face Australia in the five-match one day international series next month while Pant was recalled to ODI squad after missing two consecutive series against Australia and New Zealand.

Gavaskar picked Karthik as an opening option ahead of KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane while Pant did not find a mention in the his list.

“I have 13 names in my mind who will surely board the flight to England and they are Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav,” Sunil Gavaskar told Sports Tak.

“I think Vijay Shankar can be the 14th player. Seeing the swinging conditions in England, India can play two fast bowling all-rounders. But I am not too very sure of the 15th player. Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj have not been that impressive. Umesh Yadav can be an option and I think selectors must keep an eye on these three bowlers.

“There should be a flexibility in the team. Dinesh Karthik has opened in Test matches in the past so he can do it in ODIs too,” Gavaskar added.

Gavaskar expressed that England are the favourites to win the World Cup and not India. The former India captain said that England have become a strong ODI side since the 2015 World Cup.

“The strong favourites in the World Cup tournament are England. And it is not because of the fact that it will be a home World Cup for them. But because they have changed their attitude towards ODI cricket. They had lost in the league stage in 2015 World Cup, probably against Bangladesh. But since then, the manner in which they changed their game, the way in which they picked their team, England have grown into a strong side. They have a good opening pair, they have strong middle-order batters, they also have a good all-rounder in the form of and when you play at home you also have a strong backing,” he said.

First Published: Feb 16, 2019 17:05 IST