Royal Challengers Bengaluru travel to Eden Gardens to take on Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.
RCB sit at the very bottom of the table, an indicator of their sub-par performances in the campaign as they have managed just a solitary win in their seven outings so far this season. However, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been a shining source of light in the team’s shambolic campaign.
His performances have been top-notch this season as he has tried to bail RCB out of trouble time and again that some people have tipped him for a call-up to the national squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.
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When quizzed about the same at the presser ahead of the KKR fixture, Karthik said, “At this stage in my life, it would be the greatest feeling for me to represent India at the upcoming T-20 World Cup. I’m very, very keen to do so.”
“There is nothing bigger in my life than representing India in this T-20 World Cup,” he continued.
He went on to claim the head coach, the captain and the head selector of the team are the right people to make the decision pertaining to the same and expressed that he is behind them in terms of the process.
“I also feel there are three very, very stable, honest people who are at their helm to decide what should be the best Indian team for the World Cup. Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, and Ajit Agarkar. And I’m completely with them. I respect any decision that they take,” Karthik said.
Karthik added that he will do everything in his power to make the cut ahead of the T20 spectacle.
“But all I can say is I’m 100% ready. And you know I’ll do everything I can to be on that flight to the World Cup,” he asserted.
Karthik has amassed 226 runs to his name despite coming lower down the order and expressed that he has been enjoying the finisher role.
‘It’s been thoroughly enjoyable to do what I’m doing for RCB as a finisher,’ he said.
He added that he has to be aware of his strengths at this stage of his career and pick up on certain aspects such as piercing the gaps and picking up on the bowlers’ patterns.
“Look, I think these days as a player, you need to understand your strengths. I’m not [Andre] Russell or [Kieron] Pollard who can mishit a ball and get a six for it,” he said.
“So I need to understand how I do. How I can beat gaps, what sort of balls I can hit for boundaries. And I realised there was a certain pattern in which bowlers were bowling to me,” the 38-year-old explained.
“So, I needed to try and work out a solution for that. And hence, when I practice, I try and understand, okay, this is what they’re going to bowl at me,” he continued.
“How am I going to get a boundary visualizing a field that is going to be in place for me? So I worked like that, and I worked backwards, and that’s helped me, you know, really learn a couple of shots more, you know, at the back end,” he said.
He concluded by saying that he is delighted to be able to express himself in this capacity, which has been an enjoyable experience.
“It’s been great to go out there and express myself, and it’s been thoroughly enjoyable to do what I’m doing for RCB as a finisher,” he signed off.
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