Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya in focus as India resume road to World Cup against South Africa

NEW DELHI: 2022 has been a year when the heat in New Delhi, the capital of India, went at a different level altogether. With temperatures breaching 45 degrees on certain days, life in Delhi has been a tough test, especially when people are outdoors.

Amidst the heatwave, India are coming back to international action after two intense months of IPL 2022, as the road to preparation for the Men's T20 World Cup resumes with the opening game of the five-match series against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.

For the hosts, the next 10 days of T20I action against a full-strength Proteas is a chance to test a new-look top-order sans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as well see how the returning duo of Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya fit in India's scheme of things in the shortest format of the game.

Karthik hadn't played for India in T20Is since February 2019. But scintillating performances as a specialist finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022, amassing 242 runs at a strike rate of 220 in the death overs phase, paved the path for a comeback into the national team after three years.

Head coach Rahul Dravid had hinted at Karthik continuing to play the specialist finisher role, he did at RCB, for the Indian team. "It's very clear that he has made a comeback based on the skills that he has shown in a particular phase of the game. At that backend, Dinesh has really been able to show great consistency for the last 2 to 3 years.

"He has been able to make a difference in whichever team he has played. I don't see it any different and that's why he has been picked. He has been picked to bat in that kind of position and see whether he can replicate those kind of performances for India."

On the other hand, Pandya is tipped to be seen in Indian jersey after being last seen in the 2021 Men's T20 World Cup. At that time, with concerns over him bowling his full quota of overs, Pandya played mainly as a batter while bowling few overs in Super 10 stage.

But, in IPL 2022, Pandya turned a corner, amassing 487 runs in 15 matches at an average of 44.27, with four half-centuries apart from picking eight wickets and leading Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 trophy. Now, back in the Indian scheme of things, the all-rounder arrives in the T20I series against South Africa oozing confidence. IANS

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