In the last few months, Dinesh Karthik has done a great job. The Indian wicket-keeper batsman had a poor run for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2021 and batted well for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2022 season. The 37-year-old scored 330 runs in 16 matches and played the role of a ‘finisher’. He scored an impressive strike rate of 183.33 and was a major reason for RCB reaching the playoffs.
Karthik’s performance cannot be ignored and he got a chance after three years in the Indian team for the five-match T20I series against South Africa. Karthik was adjudged man of the match in the fourth T20I against South Africa. After this RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar revealed the secret of his success.
Bangar said on Star Sports that Karthik is still hungry and revealed that he played local matches to improve his game. He said, “They are hungry. When he was not playing in the IPL, he played a lot in domestic T20 cricket. When those matches were over too, he went to Madurai and many other places to play local cricket.
Bangar further said, “He wanted to practice in the open wickets as much as possible. Now he is getting the fruits of his hard work. He has set a standard by displaying such grit, determination and talent to make a comeback in the Indian team.” Let us inform that in the fourth T20 against South Africa, India were under pressure after the dismissal of captain Rishabh Pant at 81-4.
At such a time, Karthik came to bat and played a brilliant innings of 55 runs in 27 balls, as the Men in Blue put up a score of 169 runs. After this, winning the match by 82 runs, the series was leveled at 2-2. This was RCB star Karthik’s first half-century in the shortest format of the game despite making his debut 16 years ago.