Dinesh Karthik has had an extraordinary 2022 up to this point, as he got back in the game into India’s T20I playing XI on the back of amazing performances for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022. Since his comeback, he has played in 13 T20Is this year and scored 174 runs. In the first T20I of the five-match series vs West Indies, Karthik showed what is made of, scoring 41 runs off only 19 balls, assisting team India with posting 190 runs on the board.
India are presently leading the five-game series 2-1, and ahead of the 4th T20I, Karthik addressed a press conference where he talked about his performances and expectations.
“Pressure is a privilege at this point in time. As a cricketer, as a sportsperson, it is something which is given only when you are playing at the highest level and people expect certain things from you, so I am happy. I think what is important is making sure that on a given day, what the match situation is, reading the match situation and trying to give your best on that given day,” said Karthik while responding to an NDTV inquiry during a press conference.
The 37-year-old additionally said that this is the best team environment he has been part of and he likewise praised the coaching staff for maintaining consistency and continuity.
“I think I have said it a lot and I will keep saying it, I think this is one of the best team environments I have been in because of the consistency and continuity they seem to be giving to players. They are not judged on an everyday basis and they are given time, they are given the opportunity to fail. I think it is very important to give players the opportunity to fail and then move on to the next player,” said Karthik.
“In India, there are so many players right now, the general feeling is the one who is playing is always better than the one who has played the game. I think a lot of credit needs to be given to Vikram Rathour, Paras Mhambrey, and Rahul Dravid, for having that mindset wherein they don’t get carried away by good-looking players, they are able to understand what a player must have gone through to give a failure on a given day and back them and have the right conversation with them so that they can get the right performance from the player. The best of teams in any sport have been able to maximise their talent and that is something this current Indian team is doing well,” he added.
