NEW DELHI: Aged 38, Dinesh Karthik has set the Indian Premier League stage of fire with jaw-dropping performances in the first half of the tournament this season.
And with his 35-ball 83 blitzkrieg against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday night, albeit in a losing cause, Karthik made a strong case for himself for his inclusion in Team India for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and US in June.
Social media also went berserk and rallied behind Karthik to make the cut for the World Cup.
Lauding his late heroic effort down the order against Sunrisers, Karthik's former India teammate, Ambati Rayudu also batted for stumper's inclusion in India T20 World Cup squad.
However, former T20 World Cup winner Irfan Pathan had a different take on Karthik as he felt that stumper's inclusion is unlikely despite being in form of his life with the bat.
"As you said Dinesh Karthik played in the shadow of MS Dhoni. So now that MS is not playing anymore, you want Karthik to come in. Then by that logic, Rishabh Pant will be under Karthik's shadow. Will that be right? If Rishabh Pant was not in form, then I would have said, ok, fine," Pathan responded to Rayudu's take on Karthik's inclusion on Star Sports.
"But here, in this case, I feel Sanju Samson is ahead of Karthik in the race for the T20 World Cup spot. Or Jitesh Sharma, who was recently playing for India. The current players. We should not forget that the current players who are in the regular scheme of things should not be sidelined just because another player is performing," Pathan said.
"And second thing, our colleague Rayudu, he is from CSK and CSK players want that senior men should come in the team (laughs). But this is Indian cricket," Pathan further said.
Karthik has been in incredible form this season of the IPL, scoring 226 runs in 7 games.
The 38-year-old already has a couple of impressive fifties to his name and his runs have come at a strike rate of over 205.
Karthik will be fighting for the T20 World Cup slot with the likes of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, KL Rahul and Jitesh Sharma with the squad announcement scheduled for later this month.
