Playing a match-winning knock in Rajkot on June 17, Dinesh Karthik earned rich praise from his ex-India teammate and fast-bowler Ashish Nehra. The experienced wicketkeeper-batter received a word of applause from Nehra, who felt delighted seeing him produce his first innings of impact upon comeback to the T20I side.
Karthik was in a mood to destroy the South African bowling attack on the night. Walking in at No.6, the right-hander blasted his way to a 27-ball 55, including 9 fours and 2 sixes. It was a game-changing knock as it took India to a score of 169/6 on a tricky surface in western India when the hosts looked like settling for a total below the 150 mark for the better part of their innings.
India were 81/4 when stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant got out near the close of the 13th over, and Karthik joined vice-captain Hardik Pandya. They stitched together an exceptional stand of 65 runs off 39 balls. Pandya finished 46 off 31 balls, but Karthik stole the limelight for his unwavering assault on Proteas’ death bowlers.
Aged 36, a protagonist of one of Indian cricket’s most heartening comebacks, Karthik has been a crowd favourite across the country through this series and even his former teammates are feeling jubilant in his success.
“It’s never easy for a senior player to make such a comeback. He did start off well in the series, but was in search of a big knock. While he had been scoring impactful runs, it was good to see him bat at No. 6 today and score a half-century.”
“You expect this from an experienced player. He was chosen as a finisher, but he also knows how to steady the ship when needed. The team management will be very happy with his performance,”
Nehra told Cricbuzz.
Another former India teammate Parthiv Patel said Karthik’s imposing presence as a robust death-overs maverick only further made it difficult for the South Africans to execute their plans against him. Karthik kept playing against the field and forced the tourists to constantly rejig their plans.
“South Africa’s bowling wasn’t up to the mark when Dinesh Karthik was batting. But the reputation of a player like him forces the opposition to make such errors. More than the bowler, he is playing according to the field. When the square-leg and fine-leg were in the circle, he was looking to play over them right from the beginning,”
Parthiv said.
Nehra agreed and said the South Africans “will have to change their bowling plans” and come better prepared to tackle the in-form Karthik, who has been surreal with the bat since the beginning of the recently concluded Indian Premier League for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Having declared his wish to make an India comeback at the start of the tournament, Karthik went on to strengthen his case for re-selection with an exceptional campaign. Playing the difficult end-overs duties, Karthik struck 330 runs at a whopping strike-rate of 183.33 while averaging a highly impressive 55. He was significantly important to RCB’s run till the playoffs.
Also read 👉 DK, Hardik and Avesh star in India’s series-levelling win against South Africa
Those match-winning qualities came in handy when the decision-makers sat to finalise a side for the series against South Africa, with head coach Rahul Dravid, too, giving Karthik the nod for all games and providing him with the role-clarity and assurance he needed at this stage of his career.
Winning the ‘Player of the Match’ trophy after the victory in Cuttack, Karthik attributed that as one of the major reasons why he has been able to make such a swift comeback to the top-level game.
