Karthik replaces injured Pandey in Champions Trophy squad

NEW DELHI: India have included Dinesh Karthik in their squad for the Champions Trophy as a replacement for Manish Pandey, who has been ruled out with a left side strain.

Pandey sustained the injury during a Kolkata Knight Riders practice session ahead of their IPL Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Karthik has played 71 ODIs since his debut in 2004 — keeping wicket in 24 of them — scoring 1313 runs at 27.93. He was part of India’s victorious 2013 Champions Trophy campaign, and last played international cricket during the 2014 Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

In recalling Karthik, the selectors have rewarded his excellent domestic form across formats. He scored 704 runs in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy at 54.15, with one hundred and five fifties, and was a vital cog in Tamil Nadu’s run to a 50-overs title double, scoring a combined 854 runs at 85.40 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. In the IPL, Karthik was Gujarat Lions’ second-highest run-getter with 361 at a strike rate of 139.38.

Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Dinesh Karthik.