Veteran Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who turned 36 last month, is still hungry and looking forward to playing for the country in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Karthik told CricketNext that plans to continue playing till he is fit and that could be for the next 3-4 years. Karthik also spoke of the high standards of fitness that are expected of cricketers today.
“I will continue playing as long as I am fit. I can see myself playing for another three-four years. Touchwood, if my fitness is as it is and if I continue to contribute with the bat, I see no reason as to why I shouldn’t be playing. These days, there are so many fitness tests and the rate at which they have the fitness tests, they remove the age out of the equation. What they want to see is not the age but how fit you are. If you can get through the fitness tests, it means you are ready to play for the country. My aim is to play for the country in the T20 World Cups. There are back-to-back T20 World Cups, this year and the next year, and I am doing everything I can to be a part of that,” Karthik said.
Karthik feels he was dropped from the team because he did not have a good 2019 World Cup. Karthik also reckons despite Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya being there, India still needs a middle-order finisher.
“I thought I had done phenomenally well for India in T20s up till then, but because the World Cup did not go well, I got chucked out of the T20 as well. But given an opportunity, especially in the middle order, I know India definitely needs a finisher there. I know we have Hardik (Pandya) and (Ravindra) Jadeja there. That’s something that I have kept my focus on, to be a pure middle-order batsman. I feel that is a specialised slot, the ability to win games and set up good totals to help the team win,” Karthik added.