I Was Dropped Due To An Unsuccessful World Cup Campaign: Dinesh Karthik

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik hasn’t yet given up on his dream of representing the country again despite not being in the thick of things since the 2019 World Cup.

Karthik recently appeared on the ’22 Yarns’ podcast hosted by Gaurav Kapoor where he expressed his wish of representing Team India in at least one of the two T20 World Cups.

Karthik believes that he was dumped from all formats due to his poor outing in the 2019 World Cup. The Tamil Nadu cricketer had a forgettable outing in the 2019 World Cup and, as a result, he was dropped from both the ODI and T20I squads post the quadrennial event.

Dinesh Karthik is yet to add another India cap to his tally since the semi-final against New Zealand at Old Trafford, Manchester.

“I want to play the sport as long as I am fit. I want to represent India in at least one World Cup of the next two, I think one is in Dubai and the next is in Australia. I had a fab time with the Indian T20 team till the time I was dropped due to an unsuccessful World Cup campaign,” Dinesh Karthik said.

‘India needs a pure middle-order batsman’- Dinesh Karthik

Karthik further reckoned that Team India needs a specialist middle-order batter in white-ball cricket as most of the players that they have tried to integrate into the middle-order are specialist top-order batters.

The former KKR skipper believes that he can add great value to the Indian batting and him, alongside Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja can be menacing at the backend of the innings.

The cricketer-turned commentator reckoned that a good outing in the upcoming IPL can boost his case of another comeback.

“I still play in the IPL for KKR. India does need a pure middle-order batsman. They have a lot of top-order batsmen who they slot in the middle-order. Barring Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja there is no one who is a middle-order batsman. They all bat for their franchises from opening to No.3, with the only exception being Rishabh Pant who bats at No.4,” Dinesh Karthik concluded.

Before he was dropped from the Indian set-up, Dinesh Karthik was in the midst of a brilliant run in T20I cricket.

From the start of 2018 till his last T20I in early 2019, the Tamil Nadu cricketer was averaging 57 in 14 innings and his 228 runs had come at a blistering strike rate of 160.56.

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