Ricky Ponting wants this star batter to be India’s finisher in the upcoming 20-20 World Cup
After last year’s disastrous 20-20 World Cup, Team India will look to perform at their level best in the upcoming edition, which is set to take place later this year in Australia. However, the Asian side will look to strengthen their lower middle-order, by including certain players. Former Australia batter, Ricky Pointing came up with the name of Dinesh Karthik to play that specific role for the men in blue.
Dinesh Karthik had a fantastic Indian T20 Leauge session for his Bangalore franchise. He scored 330 runs in 16 innings, even batting down the order. His match-winning abilities and instant six-hitting abilities at the death overs were the talk of the town as Bangalore reached the second Qualifier this year. He scored those runs at an average of 55 and with a strike rate of 183.33. Besides, this performance helped him to get the call-up to the National side for their T20I series against South Africa at home.
“I would have him, and I’d have him in at that five or six slots.” – Ricky Ponting
Speaking to Isa Guha on a review show of the Cricket’s governing body, Ponting backed Dinesh Karthik for this role at the five or six slots. He said: “I would have him, and I’d have him in at that five or six roles. The way that he finished games for Bangalore this year, he took his game to another level. When you look at the Indian T20 League, you want your better players to maybe be able to win two or three, maybe four games through the season. If you can get that out of them, it’s probably going to be a really good return,”
He also added that Dinesh Karthik had a better impact than any other player in the Bangalore camp. “But Dinesh probably had a bigger impact on a lot of the games than most of the other Bangalore players did this year. Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) started the tournament really well but DK was the one. And Faf too I guess, who kept the Bangalore bandwagon rolling. I’d be surprised if he’s not in their (India) line-up somewhere,” Ponting concluded.
Dinesh Karthik was back in action for India against South Africa in the first T20I on 9 June 2020. He just faced two balls to score one run. India lost the match, thanks to the excellent hitting by the South African batters. Again, he will be in action on 12 June for the second T20I match in Cuttack.
