Dinesh Karthik reminiscences Rohit Sharma’s maiden T20I fifty that came with his bat

Team India opener Rohit Sharma has won accolades for his batting brilliance from critics around the world. Rohit has stunned all with his timing and piled a mountain of runs in his illustrious career, decimating the opposition’s bowling attack. With the advent of T20 cricket, India had always looked to have a batter who could score rapidly and the temperament to play long innings.

The Nagpur-born made his debut in the shortest format of the game for India during the T20 World Cup 2007 and smoked his maiden half-century in an encounter against South Africa.

Talking about the same, wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik revealed that Rohit used the former’s bat to upend the Proteas team.

Recalling the incident, Karthik stated that he was displeased with his bat after getting out on a golden duck and communicated the same to the veteran batter, who took over the artillery to smoke an unflappable 40-ball 50.

“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’,” said Karthik in the chat show Breakfast with Champions.

However, Karthik was humble enough to admit that Rohit’s own ability helped him cruise to a half-century rather than the bat with which he played.

“So, I gave it to him. That day, he just walked in straight with the bat in South Africa during World Cup and 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,” the Chennai-born enunciated.

Thus, India mounted a respectable 153/5 in their allotted twenty overs. In response, the Graeme Smith-led team stumbled to their opponent’s bowling attack and could only score a paltry 116/9, losing the contest by 37 runs.

Meanwhile, Rohit has reached England along with his teammates to have a face-off with New Zealand in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.