Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has aimed England captain Ben Stokes for his dismissive attitude toward the World Test Championship (WTC). Karthik pointed out that England, under Stokes’ leadership, seems to place greater emphasis on the Ashes than on the WTC, which he believes is being undervalued.
Stokes has previously aired concerns about the WTC’s point system and has expressed irritation over the penalties imposed for slow over rates. England, despite having competed in all three WTC cycles, has yet to make a final. Under Stokes’ leadership in the 2023–25 cycle, England have played 22 Tests but only managed a fifth-place finish so far.
“𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔,” 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒃𝒖𝒛𝒛. “𝑰𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝑻𝑪 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝑩𝒆𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆.”
WTC 2025: Karthik Backs India to Level Series at The Oval
Speaking ahead of Day 4 of the fifth Test between India and England at The Oval, Karthik backed the Indian team to square the series. India set a target of 374 for England, who must pull off a record chase to secure the series and keep their WTC hopes alive.
“𝑶𝒉, 100 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕,” 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒌 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕. “𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 280-300 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅’𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔.”
Karthik added, “India has a strong chance going into Day 4. Given the bowling attack and the nature of the pitch, this Test match is very much within reach for India.”
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