Is Karthik pushing for a spot in India's T20 World Cup squad?

There's something about Dinesh Karthik and comebacks. He is never quite out of the picture, especially when a big tournament - in this case, the T20 World Cup - is just around the corner. He has already hinted that IPL 2024 will be his last in the league but what's stopping him from making another appearance in India colours in the T20 World Cup in June this year? His performance in the 17th edition of IPL certainly isn't.

Karthik has so far scored 226 runs in 7 matches at a strike rate of 205.45 this season and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Days after being teased on stump mic by India captain Rohit Sharma about playing another T20 World Cup, Karthik played another breathtaking knock for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an IPL 2024 match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

"Shabash DK! T20 World Cup mein selection ke liye push karna hai isko. Dimagh mein chal raha hai iske World Cup. (Well done DK! He is pushing for a spot in the T20 World Cup. His mind is occupied with the thought of the World Cup)," Rohit was caught saying on the stump mic during the MI vs RCB match in Wankhede on April 11. Karthik had hit five fours and four sixes in his unbeaten 53-run knock of 23 balls that night. It could not ensure an RCB win but was enough to force social media to talk about his inclusion in India's T20 World Cup side as a keeper and finisher.

It cannot be said with certainty whether Karthik gave any reply to Rohit's tease. Even if he did, the stump mics didn't catch it. For theatrics, we would like to believe, he let his bat do all the talking. And it continued to talk in the most mesmerising way possible on Monday against SRH.

Chasing an IPL record of 288 runs to win, RCB lost captain Faf du Plessis (62 off 28) for 121 in 9.3 overs. They still needed 167 runs in just 63 balls with six wickets in hand. Young Saurav Chauhan was out first-ball in the same over. RCB's hopes were all but gone. They were now in danger of losing the match by more than 100 runs.

Enter DK! Again!

He took nine balls to hit his first boundary - a six off leg-spinner Mayank Markande - and went into an overdrive. In the next over of Jaydev Unadkat, Karthik hit three fours and six. The onslaught continued. In fact, it got bigger and better. Karthik hit T Natarajan for a 108-metre six in the next over - the biggest of IPL 2024. It was a half volley on the pads and Karthik used his lovely wrists to almost send the ball out of the stadium.

Even SRH captain Pat Cummins wasn't spared. He was hit for two sixes in the 17th over. There was another breathtaking switch hit for six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Karthik was finally dismissed by Natarajan in the last ball of the 19th over. He walked back to a standing ovation. His 35-ball 83-run knock was not enough to help RCB achieve history but it took them to their second-highest total and the highest in IPL while chasing. RCB fell short of SRH's record by 25 runs.