Dinesh Karthik assesses India’s chances of making it to the WTC final

With a 2-0 Test series win against Bangladesh, India kept their hopes of making the WTC final alive, and now with four Tests remaining against the mighty Australians, it will be a test of epic proportions for the Men in Blue as they will have to have a near-perfect series to stay in the hunt.

India are currently in the second position on the points table and will be hoping to stay rooted at the same as we may be up for an Indo-Australian mega-clash at the Oval in June 2023. To make sure that India does crack into the grand finale, it is safe to say that they will need to register three victories out of the 4 Tests against Australia.

It has been two decades now since Australia last beat India in the latter’s backyard in a series and this piece of stat will be instilling hopes for the Men in Blue. However, going by the criterion of the WTC, it needs a lot more than simply bagging the series for the Indians and RCB’s Finisher Supreme, Dinesh Karthik made a detailed assessment of India’s chances of making the cut for the WTC final.

Talking to Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik said, “I think it is going to be a hard one. I really think it is going to be an uphill task for India. To win three out of four Tests is never easy. That would mean playing to our strengths and assuming that Australia's weakness against spin will come through. But we have also not played off spin very well so it is a catch 22 situation for India.”

He further added, “They have to find a way to tackle off spin. Good thing is that Australia has just one spinner that they bank on. Whoever is the second spinner, whether it be Ashton Agar or Adam Zampa can be targeted.”

DK then shifted his focus on what should be India’s strategy to brave the mighty Australians, stating, “For the moment, we should bank on the fact that we have three quality spinners who on turning tracks will be a handful to deal with. On a turning track, I would bank on Axar Patel a lot more because of his height and natural variations he has got. But the Indian batters have to step up.”