World Cup: Nice guy, finish first! selectors' veiled advice to Rishabh Pant

Chief selector MSK Prasad said 'Pant was almost there' but finishing matches was the important point where they felt 33-year-old Karthik had an advantage over 21-year-old Rishabh Pant.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on April 15 announced the 15-member national squad for the ICC World Cup 2019 to be held from May 30 in England and Wales.

There were 4-5 slots up for grab as it was evident that remaining seats would go to known names.

ALSO READ: India's 15-player World Cup 2019 squad announced: Check who's in, who's out

Till recently, Rishabh Pant had all in his favour and he was seen as a potential batsman to end India's no. 4 conundrum.

But the selectors had some other plans, they wanted a player who could provide more dimensions (bat, bowl and field) or could finish the matches.

Pant is a new weapon in India's batting arsenal and in a short span he has earned the trust and praise of veteran to active players.

Chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad said, "We all (agreed) that either Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik will come in if Mahi (MS Dhoni) is injured. If it's a crucial match, wicket-keeping is also important. That's the reason we went with Dinesh Karthik. Otherwise, Pant was almost there."

But he later added that finishing the matches was the important factor where 33-year-old Karthik had an advantage over 21-year-old Rishabh Pant.

“That is exactly what we discussed. I’m saying one of the wicketkeepers will make it only if MS is injured. Under pressure, we have seen Karthik finishing matches,” he said.

However, BCCI on April 17 named Rishabh Pant, veteran batsman Ambati Rayudu and young pacer Navdeep Saini as standbys for the tournament.

In January 2019, Pant was named the ICC Emerging Player of the Year at the 2018 ICC Awards. Recently he was given level A contract by the BCCI.

In December 2015, he was named in India's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for India in January 2017. A year later, he made his Test debut in August 2018, and just two months later, his One Day International (ODI) debut in October 2018.

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Adelaide ODI: Australia won the toss, decided to bat in the 2nd ODI

Having lost the opening match of the series, India would look to up the ante as it is a do or die clash for them.

Australia won the toss and asked India to bowl first in the second ODI of their ongoing three-match series here at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

Following the toss, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said he was looking to bat first, considering the conditions of the pitch.

Talking about the team combinations, Kohli informed that pacer Mohammed Siraj has been included in the squad in place of Khaleel Ahmed.

"We would have batted. It looks a great wicket and it's very hot. We lost the first T20I earlier in the tour and bounced back quickly. It's good to put yourself under pressure. We have one change. Mohammed Siraj comes in and Khaleel Ahmed misses out," Kohli said.

Australian captain Aaron Finch, on the other hand, kept the squad same as the first ODI and hoped to put a good performance in the match.

"Good opportunity to bat first again after a good performance in Sydney. We're unchanged," Finch said.

Having lost the opening match of the series, India would look to up the ante as it is a do or die clash for them.

Following are the Indian and Australian playing XI:

India- Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Australia- Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, Jason Behrendorff.

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Dhoni's poor form a worry for India ahead of second ODI against Australia

Dhoni's 51 off 96 balls and failing to rotate the strike has brought to focus the rejigging that skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri will have to fret upon.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's inability to set the pace during middle overs will remain a major cause of concern when India take on Australia in a do-or-die second ODI on Tuesday in their bid to keep the three-match series alive.

Hardik Pandya's sudden suspension on disciplinary grounds has badly affected the balance of the batting order, which was apparent during team's 34-run defeat in the opening match despite vice-captain Rohit Sharma's 22nd hundred in 50-over format.

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Dhoni's 51 off 96 balls and failing to rotate the strike has brought to focus the rejigging that skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri will have to fret upon.

With Dhoni being slotted at No 5 even though vice-captain Rohit wants the veteran to bat a notch higher but cues from India's training session made it clear that the team is unlikely to tinker with the batting order.

India's batting order did come under the spotlight at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The top three (Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli) have enjoyed a fairly consistent run since 2016.

But it was a rare occasion when Dhoni had to come out in the fourth over of the innings.

Dhoni averages 52.95 while batting at number four, which is higher than his current career-average of 50.11 over 333 games.

It is even higher than his favoured batting positions of number five (50.70) and six (46.33) but batting lower down the order, strike-rate becomes paramount.

Yet, Dhoni's career strike-rate at number four is 94.21 is higher than his overall career strike-rate of 87.60, or at number five (86.08) and number six (83.23).

When India last played ODIs in Australia in January 2016, Dhoni batted at number four in two matches but only scored 18 runs.

In fact, since that series, Dhoni has batted at number four in only eight ODIs, with the last instance in the 2018 Asia Cup.

He averages 24.75 in this interim, with a strike-rate of 77.34 and a highest of 80 against New Zealand in October 2016.

This presents a quandary, which the Indian team management might not be in a mood to sort out at present.

Rayudu did well enough in the Asia Cup and in the home series against West Indies, and both batsmen merit a longer run in their respective positions to help settle this batting line-up in the run-up to the English summer.