India’s experienced batsman Dinesh Karthik has revealed that his next ambition is to be part of the next two T20 World Cups for the Indian team. Karthik added that he wants to help the national team win at least one out of these two World Cups if not both.
However, Karthik has been out of the Indian team since a long time and he last played a T20I back in 2019 against Australia. In fact, Karthik had performed decently while batting in the finisher’s role but didn’t get a lot of chances.
The right-hander has scored 399 runs in 32 T20I matches at an average of 33.25 and an impressive strike rate of 143.53. Karthik also has all the experience of playing in the IPL as he has played 203 matches in which he has scored 3946 runs at an average of 26.13 and a strike rate of 129.89.
Karthik has all the experience under his belt and he certainly can deliver the goods while batting down the order.
“You keep evolving. You are not the same person you were at 21 or 22. You look at things differently – the way you play the sport changes, the way the sport is played changes. It is just beautiful to have been part of the journey,” Karthik told ESPNCricinfo.
“Right now, my ambition is to be part of the next two World Cups and try and help India win at least one, if not both. That’s the ultimate goal for me and I am doing everything I possibly can to be part of that team,” he added.
Karthik added that batting at Nos. 5-7 in T20 cricket is a specialist role and the batsman must try to create an impact with his strike rate.
“See, at Nos. 6 and 7, to be consistent would mean being consistent with strike rates. What’s most important is the impact your innings create. You can’t look at the scores per se because the amount of balls you face is very few. If you take the scores you will see they will be around 18, 22 not out, one game will be 4, one game will be 8, and then you make a 14 not out from four balls,” Karthik said.
“So, if your team is doing well, that means you are playing fewer balls a lot of the time, because the bulk of the batting is done by the top order. Then you create an impact as much as possible at the back end with as many balls as you get. Not every time that you walk in you are going to score runs, especially when you bat at the back end where you are expected to play the high-risk shots right at the outset,” Karthik concluded.
Karthik will don a new hat of commentating in the WTC final between India and New Zealand.
