Veteran T20I wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik became the first Indian to complete 15 years in T20I cricket. With Karthik’s comeback appearance in the blue jersey, he entered the elite list of players like Lala Amarnath and Dilip Vengsarkar. Amarnath was the first Indian to complete 15 years in Test cricket in 1948 whereas Vengsarkar completed a decade and a half in ODI format in 1991.
Karthik made his T20I debut in 2006. It was also India’s first T20I clash. Against South Africa in Johannesburg, Karthik scored an unbeaten 31 to guide India to narrow win in the final over of low-scoring run chase. Karthik scored 31 runs from 28 deliveries and also became the first Indian to get 'Player of the match' award in the format. India chased down the target of 127 with one ball to spare.
Karthik's last T20I appearance before the South Africa clash was in 2019 against Australia. Playing in Bengaluru, Karthik scored eight runs not out from three deliveries.
The Tamil Nadu-born batter made a comeback to the T20I side on the back of performances for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
Playing the role of finisher, he scored 330 runs from 16 games at an average of 55 including one half-century. He batted with an impressive strike rate of 183.33.
The 37-year-old came to bat in the final over against South Africa on June 9. He missed the first delivery bowled by Anrich Nortje. He swung hard on the first ball but could not connect. After playing a dot ball, he got off the strike to take a single and get Hardik Pandya on strike, who finished in style to help India post 211/4, their highest total in the format against the Proteas.
