New Delhi. Royal Challengers Bangalore, chasing the target of 288 runs, lost the fourth wicket for 121 runs. When captain Faf Du Plessis was out as the fourth batsman, Dinesh Karthik came on the field to take his place. Saurav Chauhan was out after just one run. In this way RCB’s score became 122 runs for 5 wickets in 10 overs. He had to score 166 runs in the next 10 overs to win. It had become impossible to win the match. In such a situation any batsman could have become frustrated. No one would have accused him of defeat. But Dinesh Karthik is not one to get discouraged. DK Boss fought and fought hard. Playing an inning of 83 runs on 35 balls, he took his team to 262 runs. There is no doubt that Dinesh Karthik is staking his claim in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup.
Dinesh Karthik is at number 10 in the list of batsmen who have scored the most runs in IPL 2024. But when it comes to strike rate, he comes first. There is not a single batsman in the tournament who has scored more than 150 runs and his strike rate is more than 200. Dinesh Karthik has scored 226 runs in 6 innings of 7 matches at an average of 75.33 and strike rate of 205.45.
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There is only one Indian wicketkeeper Sanju Samson in IPL 2024, who has scored more runs than Dinesh Karthik. But when it comes to contending for the T20 World Cup, Sanju becomes weak in front of DK. The reason is that Sanju Samson bats in the top-3. The Indian team has many contenders for the top-3 including captain Rohit Sharma. The wicketkeeper who bats in the middle order will be most fit in the Indian team combination.
In the Indian team combination, apart from Dinesh Karthik, only Rishabh Pant seems to be a strong contender for the position of wicketkeeper batsman. Batting in the middle order in IPL 2024, Pant has scored 194 runs in 6 matches at an average of 32.33 and strike rate of 157.72.
Apart from DK and Pant, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul are considered to have strong claims for the wicketkeeper batsman position in the Indian team. But the problem with Sanju, Ishaan and KL is that all three of them either open or bat at number three. These three will be selected in the T20 World Cup team only if one of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli is dropped. Right now this doesn’t seem to be happening. Yes, there are still 15 days left for the World Cup team to be selected. During this period, if some big change happens or any player shows a very strong performance, then the face of the team can also change. But right now Dinesh Karthik’s claim in the probable team is strong. And don’t forget that when DK played a stormy inning of 53 runs against Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma had also said that the World Cup was on his mind. Don’t be surprised if Dinesh Karthik, who was playing for the Indian team before MS Dhoni, is seen playing in the World Cup once again.
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Tags: Dinesh Karthik, IPL 2024, T20 World Cup, Team india
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 16, 2024, 12:35 IST