Rishabh Pant is an X Factor: Saba Karim picks DC captain over Dinesh Karthik in India's playing XI for Asia Cup

Former India selector Saba Karim has picked Rishabh Pant as India's wicketkeeper over Dinesh Karthik in the Asia Cup match against Pakistan.

Former India selector Saba Karim backed young Rishabh Pant over the experienced Dinesh Karthik to be India's No.1 wicketkeeper in the upcoming Asia Cup T20 tournament, scheduled to start on August 27. Karim has also called Pant India's X Factor and backed him to deliver many stellar performances in the upcoming T20 tournament.

Both Pant and Karthik have been part of the same line-up through most of the T20I games since June. India selected both Pant and Karthik together in the home series against South Africa and in the away series in West Indies, with the youngster featuring as the wicketkeeper while the veteran as a finisher.

"Well, in my 11, I could’ve only picked 1 wicketkeeper batter, because if I’m getting in KL Rahul and Virat Kohli that leaves me with the choice of picking only one player between Dinesh Kartik and Rishabh Pant. I’ve gone ahead with Rishabh Pant because he’s such an X Factor for India and I can see him delivering some stellar performances even this Asia Cup," Saba Karim said while speaking exclusively on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show 'SPORTS OVER THE TOP'.

Karim's comments come when many experts have pointed out that India must pick one between Rishabh and Dinesh Karthik in its T20I squad for the Asia Cup. Karim pointed out that he wants to pick five specialist bowlers along with Hardik Pandya as the sixth bowling option and that's why we cannot have two wicketkeepers in the playing XI.

"I am also preferring a combination which allows me to play 5 wicket-taking bowlers. On top of that, I have Hardik Pandya as my 6th bowling option. So, if I go in with this kind of combination, then I don’t have space for 2 wicket-keepers," Karim added.