Dinesh Karthik’s father hints at son’s retirement following the ongoing T20 World Cup despite making a stellar comeback in the Indian team.
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India’s wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik’s international Cricket career was painted as a sorry picture for more than a decade, with fans and experts believing that the rise and shine of MS Dhoni in the national side, had left with very scope for the Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper batter to make it to the team only in the sole capacity of a batter.
On the back of consistent performances in domestic Cricket, Karthik did make made a return to the Indian team after seven long years in the year 2017, and even went on to play the 2019 ODI World Cup, but the rise of a certain Rishabh Pant during this phase, again forced him to remain out of contention for national call-up.
But here we are again, come October 2022, this 37-year-old wicket-keeper batter was not only selected ahead of Pant in India’s playing XI during the ongoing T20 World Cup opener versus Pakistan, but also has been assigned a specific role in the team – that of a finisher.
Dinesh Karthik’s father hints at son’s retirement post T20 World Cup 2022
Dinesh Karthik’s father Krishna Kumar, has flown to Sydney, the city where India will next face Netherlands in the ‘Super 12’ stage of the World Cup, to watch his son play for team India once again, and help the side lift the long-awaited format silverware.
During an interaction with The Indian Express, a pragmatic Krishna Kumar perhaps senses that this might well be Dinesh’s last visit Down Under in the capacity of a team India player, and which has acted as a motivation for him to watch his son in the country for a few days.
As per Karthik’s father, the fact that his son is playing for his country at the age of 37 itself is a ‘miracle’, and feels that his selection in the 2023 ODI World Cup next year will only act as a bonus.
“For me, seeing him play at the age of 37, itself is a miracle. If he plays in the next year’s ODI World Cup, it will be a bonus for us. At the same time I’m a practical man, somewhere we all know what will happen after this World Cup … so we all decided to fly and see him play in Australia,” remarked Krishna Kumar.
Karthik’s return back as a T20 finisher in team India, had a lot to do with his unbelievable strike rate of 220.00 for his IPL franchise RCB during the death Overs in the tournament this year.
He scored a total of 242 runs after playing mere 110 deliveries from Overs 16-20 in IPL 2022, at a stupendous average of 80.66.
