Internet Desk: His knock in the final made the difference in yesterday’s Vijay Hazare Trophy against Bengal at Feroz Shah Kotla. Karthik scored 118 runs to help Tamil Nadu post a moderate total of 217 runs after being reduced to 56/4 at one stage.
Karthik, who last played for the country on March 05, 2014 against Afghanistan in Dhaka, still eyes a comeback in the Indian team.
“I wake up every morning with a dream to play again for the country. I made my debut for India when I was only 19 years old. I always try to be positive,” said Karthik to xtratime.in
The Tamil Nadu captain has no repentance of being dropped from the Indian team.
“I won’t say I had a bad performance for being left out of the Indian team. But it was my misfortune that MS Dhoni came into the team. One has to accept that he was too good for anyone to replace him in the Indian team,” said Karthik.
Karthik scored a staggering 607 runs in 9 matches that included a century in the final. The recent form with the bat has given him a lot of confidence. He was the second wicket keeper, the last time India were crowned the champions of ICC Champions Trophy in England.
“I was in the Champions Trophy squad last time in 2013. I scored a century in one of the warm up matches in Cardiff. I have done well in England whenever I played there. During the test series in 2007, I scored 263 runs. So, I had a fair idea about the conditions in England. The selectors are the best judge,” commented Karthik.
About his performance in the Vijay Hazare final yesterday, Karthik said, “I always try to remain positive irrespective of scoring runs or not. I have a lot of self belief in my own batting. My experience helped me the way I batted against the Bengal seamers .
Karthik has now led Tamil Nadu to two Vijay Hazare trophy titles. On being asked what did he say to the players on the eve of the final, he said, “I told my players not to think about the final and focus it as just another match. I told them to give their best so that they achieve something that they can remember for a long time”
Talking about the new group of boys, Karthik said, “The club cricket structure here in Tamil Nadu is a lot more competitive. The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) has also helped the players getting strong mentally.”