‘The hunger is coming to the fore’- Aakash Chopra on Dinesh Karthik

Former India player Aakash Chopra has applauded Dinesh Karthik for performing well on the international stage.

Karthik scored 92 runs in four innings in the recently concluded T20I series against South Africa as he returned to the squad after a stunning IPL 2022. His match-winning 55-run knock, which came off just 27 deliveries in the fourth T20I in Rajkot, has won praise from all cricket experts and fans.

However, in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra named Ishan Kishan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as India's two best performers in the T20Is against the South African side. 

While picking Karthik at No. 3, the veteran said: "At No. 3, I have kept Karthik. Batting is tough at the number he bats. The way he has played, he has been brilliant. It has been a very long career, Dhoni's entire international career got over in between, but DK is still there."

The former Indian batter also stated that Dinesh Karthik is shining in the most difficult role now. Chopra explained: "The hunger is coming to the fore, the game plan, just the clarity about how he is going to play.

He plays slightly in an unorthodox fashion, but that is what is required to be done in the death overs. A specialist death batter is a very difficult role, there is no other role more difficult than this in the world."

However, Aakash Chopra has also shared that Karthik's performances are putting pressure on the young keeper-batter, Rishabh Pant, who was the stand-in skipper in the recently-concluded five-match T20I series. But he has been going through a bad form with the bat and he will have to perform consistently to secure his spot in India's World Cup squad as well.

Aakash Chopra has also named Harshal Patel as India's fourth-best performer. While talking about that, he added: "At No. 4, I have picked Harshal Patel. His first match was not good, he was hit in the first match. But after that, he has picked up seven wickets at an economy of 7.23. Seven wickets in a four-match T20I series, I will say thumbs up."

He also explained that the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) seamer uses his variations to make up for his lack of pace. However, Harshal Patel has picked up 18 wickets in the 13 T20Is he has played for Team India so far. Seven of these wickets came in the series against the Proteas, which also included his career-best figures of 4/25 as well.

Aakash Chopra concluded: "He is not your rapid fast bowler. He is not Umran Malik, Prasidh Krishna or Avesh Khan, but he is clever. He knows where to bowl the deliveries. He gets hit in an odd match but he bounces back strongly and he is a thinking cricketer."