'He has not lived up to the expectations' - Dinesh Karthik questions young India batter's place in Test squad after failure against South Africa

Team India had a horrendous outing against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test at Centurion, losing by an innings and 32 runs. They were bowled out for 245 in the first innings and 131 in the second innings. Their bowlers also failed to put up a decent performance on a difficult batting surface. The home side took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match series, dashing the Men in Blue's hopes of securing a series win in the Rainbow Nation. 

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In the first innings, KL Rahul helped the team to cross the 200-run mark with a sensational hundred. After conceding a first-innings lead of 164 runs, the Indian batters had to step up in the second innings, but none other than Virat Kohli rose to the occasion. As captain Rohit Sharma mentioned after the match, a team cannot win matches without a collective effort.

In both innings, India's top order failed to make an impact. Shubman Gill also came under scanner as the 24-year-old failed to impress in the longest format so far. He was dismissed for 2 runs in the first innings and 26 runs in the second innings. 

Veteran India cricketer Dinesh Karthik opined that Gill has not lived up to expectations in the longer format and also questioned the youngster's place in the team. The wicketkeeper-batter atter feels that the Cape Town Test starting January 3 will be crucial for Gill if he does not want to come under the scanner. 

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“Shubman Gill is the big question mark here. He has not lived up to the expectations that people have. I think even he would be aware that if you are going to average mid-30s or early-30s after having played 20 Tests, then you would consider yourself to be a bit lucky to be around. His place will definitely be under the scanner if he doesn't have a great Test match in the next one,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Gill has played 35 Test innings so far but managed to score just 994 runs at a disappointing average of 31.06. His last 50+ score was a 128 against Australia in Ahmedabad in March this year. Notably, he was demoted to number three after the arrival of Yashasvi Jaiswal, but his stats did not change much.

Karthik believes India are missing Sarfaraz Khan

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The Tamil Nadu cricketer believes that the addition of Sarfaraz Khan, who has had sensational outings in the domestic circuit, will be a huge boost for India's middle order. Despite consistently performing for his state, Sarfaraz has yet to make his international debut. The next name Karthik suggested to watch in the Test squad was Rajat Patidar.

“The only middle-order name that we are missing out on is Sarfaraz Khan. I have no doubt that he will make it to the squad much sooner than he thinks right now. Other than that, you do not have any other names doing the round in the middle order right now. Rajat Patidar is a very, very strong name that I think they will be looking at very soon,” he said.