Dinesh Karthik Gets ODI Lifeline As He Replaces The Injured Manish Pandey For Champions Trophy
India's first game is against Pakistan on June 4.
Dinesh Karthik replaced injured Manish Pandey in India's squad for Champions Trophy on Thursday. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who last donned the India jersey back in 2014, has been in good form this season and scored runs across all formats.
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If Ranji Trophy saw the 31-year-old amass 704 runs from 10 clashes, Karthik scored 607 runs at the subsequent Vijay Hazare Trophy from 9 innings and his 112 in the final helped Tamil Nadu clinch the title.
If that wasn't enough, Karthik's 247 from 3 games at the Deodhar Trophy saw Tamil Nadu return victorious. In the ongoing IPL 10, Karthik accrued 361 runs from 14 games. For Tamil Nadu coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Karthik's call to the national team couldn't have come at a better time.
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"I can't be happier at Karthik's call-up. If you look at his performances right through the season, the thing that stands out for me has been his ability to convert the starts. Irrespective of the format, we could always count on Karthik to deliver and he did just that. Being a senior member of the side, he shouldered the bulk of responsibility and this call-up to national side is a tribute to his consistency," Kanitkar told TOI on Thursday.
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Karthik was part of the Indian Champions Trophy side that won the title in England in 2013. He played the tournament purely as a batsman and scored 82 runs in four innings with a couple of not outs.
Kanitkar believes Karthik's good show with the bat over a long period of time was possible due to his remarkable levels of fitness. "Karthik is someone who gives a lot of emphasis to his fitness. One has to be fit in order to sustain form," he said.
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Kanitkar, who took over as the TN coach last season, felt Karthik's century against Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was a memorable one. "There have been many memorable knocks he has played this season, but centuries in big matches do get noticed. Karthik scored two fantastic hundreds in the finals of both Vijay Hazare and Deodhar Trophy. In both the matches, we were in trouble and had lost our top-order. There was pressure when Karthik walked in, but he changed the complexion of the game with some purposeful hitting," Kanitkar said.
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More importantly, Kanitkar felt Karthik's call-up will send the right signal for those who score consistently on the domestic circuit. "Consistency is getting rewarded and that's how it should be. Once players know they will get a look-in if they continue to score, their confidence levels are bound to go up," he said.
