Indian head coach Rahul Dravid praises Dinesh Karthik and said that DK has provided the selectors a sense of vindication for bringing him into the national side for the five South Africa T20Is.
Rahul Dravid praises Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik made a strong comeback to the Indian cricket team following his IPL 2022 performance.
Playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022, DK smashed 330 runs at a strike rate of 183.3, of which 251 runs came in the death overs (16 to 20) at an SR of 207.4 and went to lift the Super Striker of the season. CHECK: IPL 2022 Awards List
Dinesh Karthik has been dragged into team India who was in search of aggressive death over the striker. DK proved his worth in the 4th T20I against South Africa where he scored 55 runs off just 27 deliveries at a strike rate of 203.7 and even won the player of the match award.
“He was picked for a very specific skill,” Dravid said on Sunday. “He was picked for what he was doing exceptionally well over the last two-three years and it’s nice when that’s kind of vindicated in the sense that it almost came together brilliantly for us in that game in Rajkot where we needed that big performance in the last five overs to be able to make a par score.”
South Africa were scheduled to play 5 matches T20I series where the touring nation won the first 2 matches and took a lead. India won the followed couple of matches and stayed alive in the 5 match series.
In the 4th T20I match, winning the toss South Africa choose to field first. While batting India’s top-order batters failed to score the required run where they lose 3 wickets for 40 runs. While India loses their captain for 81 runs, Hardik and Dinesh Karthik joined hands and led India to a comfortable zone.
Dinesh Karthik answered everyone’s question with his bat by striking 9 boundaries and 2 sixes and scored 55 runs at a strike rate of 203.7.
“He and Hardik batted beautifully. Both of them are our enforcers in the end, guys who can capitalise on the last five-six overs as well as anyone in the world. It’s very nice to see Karthik come and do what he’s picked to do. So that’s good, it certainly opens up a lot more options for us going forward,” Dravid said.
With days ahead for the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, the Indian selection committee will definitely look forward to build a firm team. Knowing this DK may have just put his best stride forward in his first real opportunity on the road to the showpiece event.
“I was telling the guys, you have to start banging the door down, it’s not about knocking on the door. An innings like that certainly means he’s knocking very hard,” Dravid opined.
The 5-match T20I series between India and South Africa ended in a tie after the final match was abandoned due to rain.
