Dinesh Karthik wants to break the post-retirement commentary stereotype

Wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik who recently made his commentary debut during the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final between New Zealand and India wants to change the perception of commentary being a post-retirement option.

Karthik who will also commentate during the five-match Test series between hosts England and India has become a crowd favourite and barring his sexist tweet during the ODI series between England and Sri Lanka, he is having a wonderful time at the commentary box.

Karthik said that while playing cricket is much difficult than talking on the microphone, he agreed that commentary has its own set of challenges. The opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain is also helping him honing his commentary skills.

"Actually, I was the only debutant of that final," Karthik said. After completing his commentary duties in the England-India Test series, Karthik will fly to UAE to join the Kolkata Knight Riders for the remainder of the 14th season of the IPL. He is expected to lead the side in the absence of regular skipper Eoin Morgan.

Speaking on his commentary stint Karthik said, "I did that and it went pretty well. That is when I got the opportunity to do commentary and I decided to go for it. The mindset was just to speak about whatever little I know about the game.”

"There are a lot of other sports like basketball and football where current players come on air when they are not playing."

"Even now during the Sri Lanka-England T20s, James Anderson was doing it for BBC in the next room. So it is a normal thing, it is only in India I think it is considered like that (post-retirement option). I obviously want to break that stereotype to an extent and I am happy to do this when I am not playing,” Karthik concluded.

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Happy birthday Sourav Ganguly: Wishes pour in on 'true leader's' special day

Former India captain and present BCCI president Sourav Ganguly celebrated his 49th birthday on Thursday (July 8, 2021). The left-handed batsman has been one of India’s most successful skippers leading them to NatWest Trophy win in 2002 and first-ever Test series win on the Pakistan soil. Apart from this, The Men in Blue ended as runners-up in the Knockout trophy in the year 2000 and during the 50-over World Cup in 2003 under Ganguly’s captaincy. They lost to New Zealand in the Knockout trophy final while suffering a defeat against Australia in the title clash of the World Cup. Ganguly is one of the Indian batsmen to have scored a century on a Test debut. He achieved the feat back in 1996 against England at Lord’s and was capped 113 times in the longer format for the side, scoring over 7000 runs during the course. He played 311 ODIs for India and notched up a total of 11363 runs at an average of 41.02. The left-hander hung his boots from international cricket in 2008 and was later appointed as the president of CAB in 2015 and held the post October 2019 before becoming the president of the BCCI.

Hashim Amla etches name in record books

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