Irfan Pathan lauds Dinesh Karthik for latter’s selection in team India T20I squad for five-match home series against South Africa.
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The BCCI, on Sunday announced an 18-member team India squad for the imminent five-match T20I series against South Africa, set to begin from June 9, with the first match to take place in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
While the experienced players in Virat Kohli, present all-format skipper Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested, Jammu and Kashmir pacer Umran Malik and Punjab’s Arshdeep Singh have earned their maiden call-ups into the national side.
Additionally, the likes of Hardik Pandya and wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik have also marked their return back to the squad after notable performances in the ongoing IPL 2022.
KL Rahul has been appointed as the skipper of the side for the series, while wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant has been elected as his deputy.
The likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja – all of whom are suffering from injuries, also fail to make it to the squad.
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Irfan Pathan lauds Dinesh Karthik
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, post the announcement of the squad, took to his social media handle to congratulate and hail Dinesh Karthik for his return back to the national squad.
Having last played a T20I for India in February 2019 against Australia, the 36-year-old, will don the Indian jersey after more than three years.
Pathan also hailed Karthik’s comeback as a fabulous story of not giving up.
Playing the role of a finisher for RCB in the ongoing 15th season of the IPL, Karthik is presently their leading run-scorer with 287 runs across 14 innings, at an average of 57.40. His strike-rate of 191.33 is also the highest for an RCB batter this season, which has helped make quite a few match-winning contributions already, in their journey towards the playoffs.
Post his match-winning knock against Rajasthan Royals this season, Karthik had also admitted having worked quite hard and trained a bit differently, with the purpose of making a return back to the Indian side, primarily in the role of a finisher.
