Dinesh Karthik, an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman and former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain. Karthik, one of the most seasoned white-ball batters, was a member of the brilliant MS Dhoni-led team that won the debut ICC World T20 in 2007. Karthik is a contemporary of famous Dhoni in the IPL, and he gets along well with a number of Indian superstars, including ‘Hitman’ Rohit Sharma.
Surprisingly, Karthik played a lesser-known part in Rohit Sharma’s game-changing innings during the 2007 World Cup in South Africa. In the 2007 edition of the T20 World Cup, Rohit had smashed his first half-century against hosts South Africa. For the uninitiated, Karthik’s bat was responsible for Rohit’s first half-century in international cricket. Yes, the Hitman used Karthik’s bat to score his first international half-century at Kingsmead in Durban. Karthik revealed an amazing anecdote about the India opener with Gaurav Kapoor on the show Breakfast with Champions. “His first-ever international fifty was with my bat. I am very proud of that. Yeah, I was batting with it, I told Rohit, ‘What a s*** bat’ and he said, ‘What? You think this bat is not good enough? Give it to me,” Karthik recalled. As per Times now news. “So I gave it to him. That day (need to give him credit) he just walked in straight with the bat in South Africa during World Cup and he played amazing innings. No credit to my bat, obviously the batsman but still. I remember all those kinds of things and these kinds of things mean a lot to me,” Karthik added.
In India’s 2007 ICC World Twenty20 encounter against South Africa in Durban, Rohit had hammered a match-winning 50* off 40 balls, taking the Proteas to the cleaners. India went on to defeat the Graeme Smith-led team by 37 runs, riding on Rohit’s undefeated half-century. For his outstanding performance, Rohit was named Player of the Match.
