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Want to help India win at least one World Cup: Dinesh Karthik reveals his 'ultimate goal'
Dinesh Karthik is hopeful of a recall, revealing that his ultimate goal is to help India win at least one of the next two World Cups.
The 2019 World Cup semi-final between India and New Zealand presented a scenario which Dinesh Karthik would have played over numerous times in his head. In chase of 240, India were rocked early at 5/3 and instead of MS Dhoni, the management decided to send Karthik. But despite the opportunity, the wicketkeeper could not do much and was dismissed cheaply.
Since then, Karthik has not been selected for India in any format. However, a veteran of 94 ODIs and 32 T20Is, Karthik, who made his India debut way back in 2004, is hopeful of a recall, revealing that his ultimate goal is to help India win at least one of the two upcoming World Cups.
"You keep evolving. You are not the same person you were at 21 or 22. You look at things differently - the way you play the sport changes, the way the sport is played changes. It is just beautiful to have been part of the journey," Karthik told ESPNCricinfo.
"Right now, my ambition is to be part of the next two World Cups and try and help India win at least one, if not both. That's the ultimate goal for me and I am doing everything I possibly can to be part of that team."
Whether Karthik's stars align remains to be seen. With the T20 World Cup scheduled later this year, to be followed by the 50-over World Cup, time is running out for 36-year-old Karthik. The Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper batsman has been struggling to score runs, which does not work in the best of his interests. In the 2020 and 2021 editions of the IPL combined, Karthik has scored 292 runs from 21 matches as the batsman explained the reason behind his slightly rough patch in the tournament.
"See, at Nos. 6 and 7, to be consistent would mean being consistent with strike rates. What's most important is the impact your innings create. You can't look at the scores per se because the amount of balls you face is very few. If you take the scores you will see they will be around 18, 22 not out, one game will be 4, one game will be 8, and then you make a 14 not out from four balls," Karthik said.
"So, if your team is doing well, that means you are playing fewer balls a lot of the time, because the bulk of the batting is done by the top order. Then you create an impact as much as possible at the back end with as many balls as you get. Not every time that you walk in you are going to score runs, especially when you bat at the back end where you are expected to play the high-risk shots right at the outset."
