India batter Dinesh Karthik showered praise on the current leadership of captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid stating that the two have kept the dressing room environment calm, being supportive to the players.
India won the first T20I against West Indies by 68 runs, at the Brian Lara Stadium on Friday. Karthik was adjudged man of the match for his blistering innings of 41 runs in 19 balls.
In a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin on BCCI TV, Karthik talked about the team, his role in the team, and the stadium. Ashwin also shared his feelings on his T20I comeback.
“It’s a very different team. I must say that I am enjoying the setup. The kind of calmness that seems to be around the setup in terms of the coach and captain, I think a lot of credit must go to both of them because they have set up an atmosphere where they are dealing with failure in the most rational way possible,” Karthik said when Ashwin asked him about the difference between the current team and earlier teams.
Karthik also appreciated Dravid roping in Paddy Upton as a mental conditioning coach. “They are also bringing on board people who can help players try and be themselves. That could have been missing before. At times when I didn’t do well, I felt I was still treated the same way and the dressing room atmosphere was calm and good.”
Ashwin also praised Karthik’s finishing skills and said that he was aging like wine, considering he has been playing some of his best cricket over the years. The off-spinner also made an anecdote on the backdrop of the Brian Lara Stadium, stating that Brian Lara retired in 2007 and Karthik was the only player currently playing from the era when Brian Lara played.
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Talking about the stadium, Karthik said that the stadium is bigger than other Caribbean stadiums and could feel daunting at times.
Ashwin didn’t feel like he was coming back into the setup
Ashwin made a comeback to the shorter format after quite a while. He last played a T20I in November 2021 against New Zealand.
“I didn’t feel like I was coming back into the team or something like that. I genuinely felt like I was playing a game after a long time which was a bit different, so hopefully, as the series goes on it will get better.”
Ashwin bagged two wickets in the middle overs and was also handy with the bat towards the end of the first innings, scoring 13 runs off 10 balls.
“I have been working on my batting and even before the game, I communicated with you [Karthik] as to what we will be doing if we are batting together. I feel a little bit of communication, understanding, and learning on the go with the batting is starting to help me a lot more,” Ashwin said about his batting.
Karthik concluded the conversation, stating that the ultimate goal is to do well at the World Cup and both of them will have a part to play in that tournament.
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