Legendary cricketer and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is very impressed with wicketkeeper and batter Dinesh Karthik’s comeback. Dinesh Karthik, who is now 37-year-old, made his cricketing debut before the arrival of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2004 and then played under his captaincy in a stop-start career before making a comeback this year.
He was nowhere in the picture of the national selection a few months back, however, he made a stunning comeback in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League and there has been no turning back for him. He is currently sweating it hard with the Indian cricket team ahead of the much-awaited high-octane clash between India and Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022.
Ahead of the all-important clash on October 23rd at MCG, Ricky Ponting hailed Dinesh Karthik as he claimed that it is now very difficult to drop the finisher from the playing XI. Speaking to the ICC, Ponting admitted that even he thought that Karthik’s career is over as he has seen him commentating in England. Talking about the same, he said:
“It looked like his Indian career was over, probably in all three formats. He was not a retained player for KKR in IPL. He today is one of the best finishers in the T20 game which he probably never really thought to be. I thought his playing days were over and he was transferring himself to the commentary box. But he was transforming the other way. I am pleased and quite surprised the way he had turned his career in the last couple of months,”
Dinesh Karthik is very likely to feature in India’s season opener against Pakistan. He is the first-choice keeper and is expected to bat at No 6 or 7, as per the situation in the game. Ponting feels that for someone who is 37, it is not an easy comeback to make. He said:
“It is not an easy thing to do at that age. To get better is not easy. The one thing that I know about Indian players is that they never give up. The way Dinesh has played, he has made it impossible for team to not pick him.”
