In-form Dinesh Karthik's old chat with Rohit Sharma goes viral: 'Still have cricket left'

Veteran Indian wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik returned to the Indian cricket team after three years, during the ongoing India vs South Africa, five-match T20I series. Team India levelled the series 2-2 after winning the fourth T20I at Rajkot on Friday, courtesy of a match-winning half-century by the 37-year-old. While the entire cricket fanbase of India hailed the veteran for his stunning comeback in the national colours, an old conversation between Karthik and the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, also made it to the headlines.

Karthik donned the commentator’s hat during India’s tour of England in 2021 and shared a picture of himself on the ground in his suit. While Karthik captioned the picture saying,”Just me being me”, Rohit replied to him and said, “You still have some cricket left. FYI!”. Karthik then replied to Rohit and said, “don’t ever doubt that sham”.

India set a match-winning target of 170 runs in the IND vs SA 4th T20I

A little less than a year later, Karthik finds himself in the Indian squad, essaying the role of a finisher, and right justifying it. During the 4th T20I against the Proteas team on Friday, Karthik produced a magnificent knock of 55 runs in 27 balls and powered India to a total of 169/6 in 20 overs. He scored a total of nine fours and two sixes during his knock, which was the highest among the India batters.

Avesh Khan contributed with the most wickets for India in the IND vs SA 4th T20I

Meanwhile, in the second innings, youngster Avesh Khan contributed with the best figures of 4/18 in four overs as India restricted the visitors to 89/9 om 16.5 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets in the match, whereas, Harshal Patel and Axar Patel contributed with one wicket each. Earlier in the first innings, Hardik Pandya also hit three fours and three sixes, during his knock of 46 runs in 31 balls.

More about Dinesh Karthik's international comeback

Karthik found his way back to the India squad for the South Africa series, courtesy of his stellar form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He played 16 games in the season and scored a total of 330 runs with a strike rate of 183.33 and an average of 55.00. Karthik has scored 92 runs in four games in the ongoing season, at an average of 46.00 and strike rate of 158.62. Following the conclusion of the series against South Africa, Dinesh will travel to Ireland along the Indian T20I side, led by Hardik Pandya, for the two-match series. 

(Image: bcci.tv)