The veteran Indian wicketkeeper-batter, Dinesh Karthik, continues to impress many with his performance with the bat since IPL 2022. He was recently made a comeback to Team India for the recently concluded five-match T20I series against South Africa after his remarkable IPL season this year.
Well, Karthik justified his selection with his impressive four outings, including a fifty in the third T20I match of the home series against South Africa.
The right-handed batter amassed 92 runs at an average of 46 and a strike rate of over 158 in the four matches, with the final match washed out on June 19.
Reacting to Karthik's remarkable return to the Indian team ahead of the T20 World Cup, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra hailed the veteran cricketer while saying that MS Dhoni’s entire international career got over in between, but the 37-year-old keeper is still there.
He also feels Karthik should bat at number three for India in T20Is while lauding his brilliant batting performance against South Africa. He will travel to Ireland with the team for a two-match T20I series to be played on June 26 and 28 in Dublin.
Aakash Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel: “At No. 3, I have kept Karthik. Batting is very difficult at the number he bats. The way he has played, he has been brilliant. It has been a very long career. Dhoni's entire international career got over in between, but DK is still there.”
He added, “The hunger is coming to the fore, the game plan, just the clarity about how he is going to play. He plays slightly in an unorthodox fashion but that is what is required to be done in the death overs. A specialist death batter is a very difficult role, there is no other role more difficult than this in the world.”
