After making a successful comeback into India’s limited-overs team, Dinesh Karthik is now harbouring hopes of donning the white jersey again for the national team. The Tamil Nadu star had returned to India’s ODI team during the Champions Trophy on the back of some brilliant performances in the domestic circuit and the Indian Premier League. The right-handed batsman, who replaced injured Manish Pandey for the Champions Trophy, enjoyed a highly fruitful domestic season where he led Tamil Nadu to their fifth Vijay Hazare title by scoring 112 in the final against Bengal. He finished the 50-overs tournament as the top run-getter averaging 86.71 while scoring 607 runs in nine matches. In the Ranji Trophy, he scored 704 runs in 10 matches at an average of 54.15.
He continued his red-hot form in the Duleep Trophy too where he scored 211 runs in the three games he played for India Blue. He also led Tamil Nadu to Deodhar Trophy title by scoring 247 runs in 3 matches. His form in the IPL was equally impressive where he amassed 361 runs in 14 outings at an average of a shade over 36.
And now that he has been rewarded for his form with a place in the ODI and T20I teams, the 32-year old has set his sight on the Test team.
“I want to try to push for a spot in the Test team now that I am part of the ODI and T20 sides. That is a plausible dream for me. I would love to wear the whites again and play under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. The kind of shots I have, it can make an impact in the middle-order,” Karthik said in an interview to PTI.
Karthik further said his dream is to represent the country in the 2019 World Cup.
“It is important to make use of the opportunity given to me in the One-dayers. But I don’t want to keep thinking about it and put pressure on myself. The plan is to score runs whenever I get an opportunity. It feels good to score runs for the country. Feels good to be back to be back in the team. The aim is to play the World Cup in 2019,” he added.
Karthik played as a proper batsman in West Indies and he is likely to continue in the same role in coming days. However, when asked whether he just wants to concentrate on his batting, he said:
“No. I would like to call myself an all-rounder. I am a genuine keeper and a genuine batsman. In a sense, I am a two-skilled player. I am a genuine all-rounder and can also field at any position. I have always had the confidence that I can play in any team as a batsman. Keeping comes naturally to me.”
The right-handed batsman also expressed his desire to represent Chennai Super Kings next season but cautioned that the comeback would be tough for the two-time IPL champions. The Super Kings along with Rajasthan Royals would return to the league from the next after their two-year suspension ended this month.
“It is a massive challenge. You know it is not easy to build a team from scratch. We don’t know anything until the rules come up. I would love to turn out for my home city. It is just that I have never been picked by CSK. There may be various reasons and it may be part of the franchise’s strategy,” he said.