Manish Pandey might have been on cloud nine after he was selected to represent India in the upcoming Champions Trophy, but it has now turned sour for the middle order batsman, who has been ruled out of the ICC event due to left side strain. He was injured on Wednesday. Dinesh Karthik will replace Pandey in the Champions Trophy squad.
Karthik is making a return to the Indian team after a gap of three years as the wicket-keeper batsman last played for India against Afghanistan in 2014.
It was his consistent display with the bat in IPL 2017, which might have prompted the BCCI to choose Karthik, who scored 361 runs in 14 matches for the Gujarat Lions.
Besides his form, Karthik is an experienced campaigner, and has already played 71 ODI matches for India. His knowledge of English conditions could have tilted things in his favour as Karthik was part of the Indian team, which won the last edition of the competition in England as well.
Though one is not certain if Karthik will feature in the playing XI, his experience, if needed, will come handy in such a big tournament.
India are pooled alongside Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa in Group B for the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to start from June 1. India start their campaign against Pakistan on June 4.
India's updated squad:
Virat Kohli (capt), 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
