Dinesh Karthik supports promoting Deepak Hooda to a higher batting position, as he thinks Hooda is not a suitable finisher in the T20s. Karthik believes Hooda’s ideal position is at number three, which he proved during the 15th Indian T20 League edition. He hit his only international century while batting at number three against Ireland.
Despite this, the team has continued to use him as a finisher. Karthik believes Hooda should be at the top of the order as he is comfortable taking on the opposition in the powerplay. Despite Hooda’s decent performance in the Sri Lanka series, Karthik wants to see him bat higher up in the order.
“To be consistent is the hardest thing at 5, 6, 7, especially at 6 and 7. So Deepak Hooda, even though he has done really well at No.3, for some reason they feel he can do the job at No.6 and 7. I feel this is going to be a big challenge for him. Through his Indian T20 League career, barring Lucknow Franchise, he is someone who has batted through the middle, at No.5 or 6 and hasn’t had great success.”
“He fancies himself as a top-order batter. He rediscovered himself when he went from Baroda to Rajasthan. He likes batting in the powerplay. He likes to take the game on. But right now, in the recently-concluded Sri Lanka series, he did decently well at No.6 and it was a great opportunity for him,” Karthik said while speaking to Cricbuzz.
Jitesh Sharma likes to bat lower down the order- Dinesh Karthik
Additionally, Karthik also suggested that Jitesh Sharma should bat lower down the order at number 6. He believes that Sharma is trained to bat at that position and he would be the most effective in the lower middle order.
“Jitesh Sharma is a home-grown No.6 batsman. He is someone who likes batting there and would hence enjoy the situation a lot more. He has batted there and has trained himself to bat there. But in this series I don’t see him playing. Now it is Deepak Hooda. But I do think if he is under pressure they should give him that opportunity at No.3 before they decide to move on from him,” Karthik opined.
