Talking about the sensational return of Dinesh Karthik to the Indian side, head coach Rahul Dravid said that the senior batter and all-rounder Hardik Pandya are nothing but enforcers at the death.
“Karthik was picked for a specific skill – something he was done exceptionally well in the last two-three years. It is nice that his selection has been vindicated. It came together brilliantly at Rajkot, where we needed that big performance in the last five overs to make a par score. Karthik and Hardik (Pandya) batted wonderfully for us,” Dravid said at the press conference after the 5th T20I was called off due to rain.
Spearheading India’s middle-order in the South Africa series, Karthik scored 92 in 4 innings against the Proteas. Karthik also became the oldest Indian batter to score a half-century in the shortest format of the game.
“Both Karthik and Pandya are our enforcers at the death. They can capitalise in the last five-six overs as well as anyone in the world. It is nice to see Karthik do well. It opens options for us going forward. I was telling the guys that they have to bang the doors open, not just knock. An innings like that (at Rajkot) certainly means that Karthik is banging hard,” Dravid added.
