Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik reckons in-form Abhishek Sharma could be demoted in the batting order to give other batters a go. Karthik reckons Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma can bat ahead of the Indian opener to give themselves more game time in the middle.

Abhishek has been in tremendous form as he has aggregated 248 runs in five matches of the Asia Cup at an average of 49.60 and a blistering strike rate of 206.67. But barring him, India’s batting order has been a hit and miss and the next best Indian batter is Shubman Gill, who has scored 111 runs in the tournament.

Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz, “The only thing is if Abhishek is happy , having had a good bat, he could probably slide down the order and give somebody else like a Surya or a Tilak an opportunity. If I was in Gambhir’s place, I would just go stock standard as to what is expected. Unless he feels there is a bowler that needs to be rested, I’ll look to win another game of cricket.”

On the other hand, India is making all the batting experiments in the tournament and Karthik said he doesn’t have a problem with how India are shaping with the bat.

“I don’t have a problem with how India are shaping up with the bat. Would I like Surya to get more runs? 100%. But I am not going to think Sanju needs to get more opportunities or Axar needs to get more opportunities. Somewhere you need to develop that bone of being ruthless as well,” said Karthik.

India will take on Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Friday.