(Cricket News) The Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik has an eye on being a part of India’s T20 World Cup squad. Karthik has thrown a hat in the ring to be considered for selection after having played some exceptional innings for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Karthik playing his last ever IPL has been superb in the first half of the league. He has been one of the most successful batters alongside Virat Kohli for an underperforming RCB side this year. His form with the bat has caught the eyeballs of many, including the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.
“At this stage in my life, it would be the greatest feeling for me to represent India [at the T20 World Cup]. I’m very, very keen to do so. There is nothing bigger in my life other than representing India in this T20 World Cup,” Karthik said on Saturday (April 20) on the eve of RCB’s clash against his former employers, Kolkata Knight Riders.
“I also feel there are three very, very stable, honest people who are at their helm to decide what should be the best Indian team for the World Cup. Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, and Ajit Agarkar. And I’m completely with them. I respect any decision that they take. But all I can say is I’m 100% ready. And you know I’ll do everything I can to be on that flight to the World Cup,” he added.
Karthik was a part of India’s previous T20 World Cup squad in Australia , but he did not manage to replicate the outstanding IPL season that he had in 2022. In fact Karthik was nowhere near his heroics in the global event. He was eventually dropped from the Indian 11 for the last two games, including the semi-finals.
Karthik hasn’t featured for the Indian side since the T20 World Cup in 2022. He also had a below par IPL 2023, managing to score just 140 runs in 13 innings at 134.61 SR. However the veteran Tamil Nadu cricketer has not failed to make a mark in the T20 World Cup year. In 6 innings for RCB so far, he has scored 226 runs at an outstanding strike-rate of 205.45.
Indian selectors would surely have a good headache, regarding the selection from a pool of Wicket Keepers. Other options in front of India’s team management for the keeper-batter role include the returning Pant (210 runs at 156.71 SR), who has found his touch despite missing nearly 13 months of action while KL Rahul (286 runs at 143.00 SR), Sanju Samson (276 runs at 155.05 SR) and Ishan Kishan (192 runs at 172.97 SR) have shown good form at the top of order in the ongoing IPL.
Jitesh Sharma who has been a constant in the Indian T20 side for an year or so has had something of a downturn in batting fortunes with his seven trips to the crease bringing only 90 runs at 127.77 SR. He would need an excellent other half of the tournament to put his name forward as well.
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