Karthik sympathises with Saha, but says Pant nailed his place in Team India

Dinesh Karthik on Tuesday said he could understand it would have been a "hard one to swallow" for Wriddhiman Saha when the team management decided to move on from him but said the call was pretty understandable as Rishabh Pant had "pretty much nailed his place in the side." Lauding the wicket-keeping skills of Saha, who was excluded from the Indian Test squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, Karthik said, "But you can see Rishabh Pant has pretty much nailed his place in the team. So then, you can understand which direction the Indian team is going in where they feel that if it's going to be a second keeper role, then they'll look at somebody younger."

Read Also3-member committee to investigate threats & intimidation from senior journalist to Wriddhiman Saha

The BCCI has formed a three-member committee to probe the alleged threat by a senior journalist to Wriddhiman Saha for not agreeing to give an interview.

Karthik was sympathetic towards Saha, saying it was not easy for a cricketer to accept rejection. "I'm pretty sure from wherever I've seen with Wriddhiman's interviews, he understands where this decision is coming from," the Tamil Nadu cricketer said in the ICC Review. "I know no cricketer is going to accept that when you're being told to move on. It is a very hard one because this is what they've been doing day in and day out. "All of us want to represent the country and that is the burning desire for everybody. So when somebody comes in says, 'I think your time is done,' it can be a hard one to swallow. But it is understandable and you have to understand where the selectors, the coach and the captain are coming from," Karthik said.

Read AlsoICA strongly condemns 'threat' to Wriddhiman Saha

The Indian