Dinesh Karthik returned to the team because of this, Rahul Dravid revealed

Cricket

oi-Rahul Singh

New Delhi. Dinesh Karthik was seen among the players during the practice at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi ahead of the first T20I against South Africa. He had set a target to make a comeback in the Indian team during IPL 2022 and Karthik made his dream come true with a stellar performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman returned to the Indian team after a gap of almost three years. On the return of Karthik, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid gave a statement, explaining what led to his return.

Referring to Karthik’s return while speaking at the press conference, Dravid said that he can repeat the same performance for India as he showed for RCB. Karthik scored 330 runs for RCB in 16 matches this year at a strike rate of 183. He was explosive in the last five overs of the innings. Dravid said, “Karthik’s role is clear. He has been selected to bat fast and let’s see if he can repeat the same performance for India, which he showed in the IPL.”

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Karthik scored 330 runs for RCB in 16 matches this year at a strike rate of 183. He was at his lethal best in the last five overs of the innings. His 22 sixes in the tournament mostly came in the death overs and Dravid hopes that the veteran of 92 ODIs and 32 T20Is can replicate the same performance for India. During India’s first practice session ahead of the South Africa series on Monday, Karthik spent around 15 minutes practicing ramp shots, flicks and scoops against India’s throwdown specialists.