India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has said that new skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid are taking the Men in Blue in a fabulous direction. Karthik also hailed Team India’s victory over West Indies in the recently-concluded T20I series. India will now lock horns against Sri Lanka in the shortest format.
“What I enjoyed most was Rohit’s captaincy. I thought he led the team beautifully. Tactically very, very sound, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way the team played in the last couple of series against West Indies,” Karthik said on ‘The ICC Review‘. “The new captain and there’s a new coach, I think they are taking the team in a fabulous direction. They’ve plugged small holes, which were probably there previously, and that has been the beautiful part about it. And along the way, in the journey, they’ve managed to become No.1,” he added.
After beating West Indies 3-0, Team India also managed to become the No.1 ranked side in the shortest format of the game. “Who doesn’t want to be world No.1 even if it is for some period of time? Because other teams will play matches and then India plays more matches post the IPL so that could change. But for the moment, knowing that Team India is the No.1 T20 team in the world is I think a very, very good feeling,” said Karthik. “I think it is the quality of players. When you talk about good teams over a period of time, they always talk about the fact that bench strength needs to be very important, and India has great bench strength,” he added.
Talking about Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer, Karthik said: “The guys coming in new have really grabbed on to their places. Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer. It’s just good to watch Harshal Patel – he has been an absolute revelation. So I think, the guys coming in are grabbing their opportunities with both hands and that’s always a good sign.”
