Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik has urged India to continue backing Arshdeep Singh for the highly anticipated match against Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. With the match set to be played in Colombo, there is a thought that India could play with three spinners and bring in Kuldeep Yadav.
Meanwhile, India has played with two specialist spinners in Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy in the first two games against the USA and Namibia.
On the other hand, Arshdeep Singh returned with impressive figures of 2-18 in his quota of four overs against the USA whereas he bagged 1-36 in three overs he bowled against Namibia.
Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz, “If you’re looking at that game as a must-win game, then I would think differently. I would then bring Kuldeep in the mix. But to be fair, this game doesn’t have too much meaning other than the fact that these are two nations which are, you know. I would look at the bigger picture and say it’s important to have Arshdeep because when we come back for the Super 8s and we’re going to be playing in India, it becomes a very important part of this.”
“And you want him to feel what it means to play for the whole tournament because every time he’s done it, the team has done well. So he’s a key person for India to move forward because he bowls up top, bowls really well, picks up wickets, and most importantly gives India the flexibility of bowling a world champion bowler through the middle. He becomes a wicket-taking option when the middle-order batsmen aren’t expecting it. So that’s a very good variation to have through the middle,” he added.
As the Colombo wicket is expected to provide assistance to the spinners, Karthik reckons Pakistan has a good chance to challenge India. Team India has a 7-1 record against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.
“If you look at it in a very pragmatic way, I don’t think there’s too much of a competition, especially if they play on flat pitches. What I mean by that is Colombo is Pakistan’s best chance to actually threaten India. For a start, the pitches are aiding spin. The one area where India has been vulnerable is playing spin. If you deep dive into team India, and the way they have played on pitches which are slightly slow and tacky against spinners, they have been a little vulnerable.”
Pakistan played with four spinners in their last game against the USA.
“So Pakistan have stacked their team with four spinners, plus a fifth spinner if they want to. What I mean by that is they have Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Saim Ayub, Usman Tariq, and Abrar: there are five quality spinners, which basically means they can bowl at least 16 overs. Yeah. And obviously, there’s Shaheen Afridi and Faheem Ashraf, the two pacers. So, in Colombo lies Pakistan’s best chance of competing against India. But Pakistan’s batting is a bit too vulnerable for my liking,” he added.
India will next take on arch-rivals Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Sunday.
