DK is miles better than Pant. Pant almost lost India the third test. The point is, DK has experience and is proven. He is a better Test cricketer than Pant, and it makes no sense at all to pick Pant over DK.There is not a single reason I can think of, apart from a potential bias against Tamil Nadu and South India.
Have you watched any of the 4th innings in the 3rd test?
He didn't bowl beautifully. He got lucky and wasted the first new ball. If Bumrah got five, Umesh would have gotten seven wickets using the new ball. Umesh is absolutely quality, and is along with Ishant India's best pace bowler. Bumrah is a match-loser in Tests, the way he bowls.
Are you even a fan of good pace bowling?
I am a fan of pace bowling, therefore I am a fan of Umesh Yadav, who is the best pace bowler India has right now. Bumrah isn't even top 10 of India's pace bowlers. I hate Kohli's captaincy, attitude as well as Shastri's drunken stupidity. I hate the way South Indian cricketers like Karthik, who has worked so hard for so long to get a chance, is sidelined for the next flavour of the month from Delhi.
Dhawan has been the best opener on show from both teams - granted the bar is pretty low.
Karthik was absolutely fine with wicketkeeping. He struggled with the bat but so did everyone else. I see no reason for picking Pant over Karthik and I think (in fact, I hope) this decision will cost India important future matches.
The form they are in, they are cheap. Any bowler could have picked them up cheaply, and in fact Umesh would have taken those wickets. Also, Buttler top scored in both innings, something which Umesh's attacking lines and lengths would not have allowed.
No.
Overall, Karthik is a better keeper than Pant. They replaced Karthik because the batting needed bolstering.
A young kid is given an opportunity; he grabs it with both hands, and whether fortuitously or not, does better than the player he replaced.
It is short sighted decision. Give Karthik some belief, assure him of his spot, give him all five tests and I can assure you he would have performed better than Pant or even won India this series. Karthik has waited for so long this opportunity, it is absolute stupidity from Shastri and Kohli to take it away so quickly.
I agree that Karthik should have been persisted with for longer, but Pant was an appealing option, with him having done well on the A tour and showing promise for the future, while Karthik is more of a short to medium term fix.
Funny how his bowling in tests hasn't been all that 'all over the place' and hasn't hurt the team. He's been vital to India's two most recent test victories outside of Asia.
Do you even watch Bumrah's bowling in Tests? To tell me that it isn't like a spraygun is bordering on the ridiculous. Umesh Yadav shows much more control and patience.
From what I've seen he's waaaaay better than the last significant Umesh Yadav I saw back here in 14/15, who had so little directional control I thought he was gong to bounce one over second slip. Yadav might be better with the old ball in india, but that's irrelevant to the current series. Right now Bumrah just took more wickets at a lower economy than any of the other Indian pace bowlers on a less favourable surface than the one Yadav was not that impressive on in the first test. And Yadav is probably my favourite Indian bowler and I've been wanting good things out of him since his first visit down here in 11/12 so it's not like I'm irrationally against him or anything.