“DK has to be in the Indian T20 World Cup team”: Michael Vaughan calls for Dinesh Karthik’s comeback into India T20 squad

Michael Vaughan calls for Dinesh Karthik’s comeback: The former English captain wants the veteran Indian wicket-keeper batter to play international cricket again.

During the 54th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium, veteran Royal Challengers Bangalore wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik has played yet another impact-generating innings this season.

Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the penultimate over, Karthik’s knock has it in it to be the difference between the two teams. Aided by a reprieve on the boundary by Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Rahul Tripathi, Karthik smashed a four and four sixes in his eight-ball 30*.

Having hit a six off Kartik Tyagi in the 19th over, Karthik hit three sixes and a four off debutant Fazalhaq Farooqi to power Bangalore to 192/3 in 20 overs after captain Faf du Plessis (73*) won the toss and chose to bat.

Following former captain Virat Kohli’s golden duck, du Plessis and Rajat Patidar (48) put together a rescuing act in the form of a 105-run second-wicket partnership.

As far as Karthik is concerned, him scoring 274 runs this season at a strike rate of 200 has resulted in him topping the list of batters with highest strike rate (minimum 75 runs) this season.

Michael Vaughan calls for Dinesh Karthik’s comeback into India T20 squad

Former England captain Michael Vaughan is among the many admirers of Karthik for his evolved big-hitting skills this season. Vaughan, who took to social media platform Twitter to suggest a break to Kohli earlier in the day, called for Karthik’s comeback into the T20I squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.

Karthik, 36, had played the last of his 152 matches for India across formats during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Readers must note that Karthik had publicly expressed a desire of wanting to play the role of a finisher during the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 (later moved to 2022 due to COVID-19) but wasn’t selected in the squad.

ALSO READ: Why India shouldn’t have dropped Dinesh Karthik from T20I squad

A domestic stalwart on the back of what is a two-decade old career now, Karthik continues to both pile on the runs and grab outstanding catches behind the stumps in domestic cricket for Tamil Nadu.