Veteran India batter Virat Kohli has become the talk of the town for his poor run of form in the recently-concluded England tour.
Virat could manage only 11 and 20 in rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston and aggregated only 12 runs in his two innings in T20Is. While the right-hander didn’t feature in the first ODI due to a groin injury, he returned with scores of 16 and 17 in the second and third ODI respectively.
Kohli’s recent failures saw him drawing flak from the fans and former cricketers. In fact, Indian cricket legends Kapil Dev and Virender Sehwag have raised questions over his spot in the national team.
Amid the run drought, Virat Kohli has also received plenty of support from the cricket fraternity, with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Kevin Pietersen, Shoaib Akhtar backing him to come good.
Now, India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has joined the bandwagon and extended his support to Kohli, who has been rested for the upcoming white-ball tour of West Indies.
"Virat has experienced insane success over the period of time. Now he will get a good break and will come back all recharged and hopefully will do phenomenally well. You can never rule out a player of his calibre," Karthik quoted as saying by Times of India.
Last month, Dinesh Karthik made his return to the Indian side after three years. The 37-year-old talked about his comeback and admitted that while it was a tough task, he said he worked hard for it.
"It is never easy, but I have worked hard for it. Also, given the bench strength that we have today, the competition is always going to be a part of it. This is the beauty of Indian cricket," Karthik remarked.
Karthik seems to be in the plans of the team management for the T20 World Cup 2022 as he has been a regular feature in the playing XI since his comeback. He has also been named in the India squad for the five-T20I series against West Indies, starting later this month.
"As a team we are preparing for the challenges we will have to face during the upcoming World Cup. Coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma have taken everyone along as we prepare for the big event. It is a very positive environment," said Karthik.
(With TOI inputs)
