Dinesh Karthik sympathises with Wriddhiman Saha, but says THIS about Rishabh Pant

Dinesh Karthik was sympathetic towards fellow wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, saying it was not easy for a cricketer to accept rejection. 

Former Team India and wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik on Tuesday (March 1) said he could understand it would have been a ‘hard one to swallow’ for Wriddhiman Saha when the team management decided to move on from him but said the call was pretty understandable as Rishabh Pant had ‘pretty much nailed his place in the side’.

Lauding the wicket-keeping skills of Saha, who was excluded from the Indian Test squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, Karthik said, “But you can see Rishabh Pant has pretty much nailed his place in the team. So then, you can understand which direction the Indian team is going in where they feel that if it's going to be a second keeper role, then they’ll look at somebody younger.”

Karthik was sympathetic towards Saha, saying it was not easy for a cricketer to accept rejection. “I’m pretty sure from wherever I’ve seen with Wriddhiman’s interviews, he understands where this decision is coming from,” the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) cricketer said in the ICC Review.

“I know no cricketer is going to accept that when you’re being told to move on. It is a very hard one because this is what they’ve been doing day in and day out. All of us want to represent the country and that is the burning desire for everybody. So when somebody comes in says, ‘I think your time is done’, it can be a hard one to swallow. But it is understandable and you have to understand where the selectors, the coach and the captain are coming from,” Karthik said.

He was all praise for Saha’s contributions to Indian cricket. “Kudos to Wriddhiman Saha. I think he has been one of those brilliant, quiet servants of Indian cricket who has done so well over a period of years. He is still one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, by a distance ? I rate him as the best wicketkeeper in the world. He has got great hands, he moves really well... He is a terrific wicketkeeper. And add to the fact, he has a few centuries in international cricket and played some really crucial, important knocks when Team India needed it,” Karthik added.