Neither did he rotate the strike nor did he play confident shots: Gautam Gambhir slams Dinesh Karthik

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir lashed out at Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik after his flop show against South Africa in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday. Indis suffered a five-wicket defeat in the low-scoring thriller in Perth as their unbeaten streak in the tournament came to an end.

It was a disappointing batting performance from the Indian team as Suryakmar Yadav single-handedly propelled the team to a fighting total of 133 runs after a disastrous start. While the likes of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli failed to deliver, the middle-order too was non-existent for India against a quality Proteas pace attack.

Suryakumar slammed a brilliant knock of 68 runs off just 40 balls but failed to find support from the other end. India were reeling at 49/5 at one stage in their innings when Suryakumar joined hands with Dinesh Karthik to steady the ship with a 52-run stand for the sixth wicket.

However, Karthik, who managed only 6 runs off 15 balls failed to deliver and got out trying to play a big shot at the wrong time. Karthik has been backed by the team management as the designated finisher and first-choice keeper batter ahead of Rishabh Pant, however, he has failed to live up to the expectations.

Gambhir lashed out at the veteran wicket-keeper batter after his poor show against South Africa and said he lacks clarity when asked to play with 7-8 overs remaining and is only good for death overs.

"What is Dinesh Karthik's problem? If he gets a lot of balls to face, he is not able to figure out the tempo at which he has to bat. If he gets just 10-`12 balls, then there is clarity in his mind. He is then able to take on the bowlers. If there are 7-8 overs remaining, then he doesn't have clarity over whether he should rotate the strike or block," Gambhir said onStar Sports.

The former India opener also slammed the 37-year-old for failing to rotate the strike during his partnership with Suryakumar against South Africa onSunday and said he was neither able to steal singles nor hit proper shots during his innings.

"With the experience that Dinesh Karthik has, it's important that he figures out the tempo and the time to attack. He can attack any bowler, he has all the shots in the book. He is a finisher too. But there are situations when your team is 5 down in the first 10 overs, then does he have the temperament to bat accordingly and build a partnership, go at run-a-ball and give yourself a chance to attack the bowlers at the death. He got out at the wrong time. But even if you had looked at him before that, he didn't look confident during that knock. He didn't have any tempo to his batting. Neither did he rotate the strike nor did he play confident shots," added Gambhir.

Karthik picked up an injury while keeping wickets in the game against the Proteas and is likely to miss India's next Super 12 clash against Bangladesh. Pant can be his direct replacement in the playing if he misses out.