Dravid hints at Karthik & Pandya being enforcers at T20 WC

TIL Desk Sports/ India head coach Rahul Dravid has indicated that Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya could be vital cogs in the country’s campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, saying that “both of them are our enforcers” as the side looks to overcome the disappointment of last year’s tournament and come back strongly in the 2022 mega event.

Both Karthik and Pandya have come up with heartening performances in the drawn five-match T20I series against South Africa, with the former scoring a match-defining half-century in Rajkot that helped the hosts level the series at 2-2. The fifth and final game at Bengaluru on Sunday was washed out. “He (Karthik) is picked for a very specific skill and he was picked for that based on what he has been doing particularly well over the last two or three years,” Dravid said post-match on Sunday.

“It almost came together perfectly for us in that game at Rajkot when we needed that big performance in the last five overs to be able to make a par score. “He (Karthik) and Hardik (Pandya) batted beautifully for us and both of them are our enforcers at the end and guys that can capitalise on the last five or six overs as well as anyone in the world. It was really nice to see Karthik come off and do what he has been picked to do and it certainly opens up a lot more options for us going forward. Innings like that (in Rajkot) means he is certainly knocking very hard,” added Dravid.