'The way he batted, my No. 4 spot is in trouble': Suryakumar Yadav reserves high praise for Dinesh Karthik

In the third and final T20I of the three-match series against South Africa, India made three changes to the playing XI as, in place of the rested KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and injured Arshdeep Singh, the trio of Shreyas Iyer, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj made it to the side. But the inclusion of two fast bowlers didn’t help India as they failed to keep the opposition under check, who, with the help of Rilee Rossouw’s unbeaten 100 off 48 balls and opening batter Quinton de Kock’s 43-ball 68, posted a total of 227 runs for the loss of three wickets.

With already a batter short, India had a poor start, as they lost skipper Rohit Sharma (0) and Shreyas Iyer (1) inside the first 10 balls. But in a rather surprising call on Tuesday (October 4), the Indian team management promoted Dinesh Karthik to bat at number four. And the right-handed veteran wicketkeeper-batter made the most of it by making 46 off just 21 balls. During his stay at the crease, he hammered four boundaries and as many sixes.

Impressed by Karthik’s show at the number four position in the third T20I, Indian star middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav, who usually bats at four for the Men in Blue, in a humorous way said that Karthik’s quickfire 46-run knock put his number four spot in jeopardy.

"DK needed some game time, and I think the way he batted, my number 4 spot is in trouble," he said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Surya was on fire for India in the first two matches of the series, and he scored back-to-back fifties, for which he earned the Player of the Series award as well. With a strike rate of 195.08 and an average of 59.50, Surya showed why he is the best T20I batter in the world this year.

Surya, who made his debut for India last year in March against England, will now travel with the Indian team to Australia to take part in the upcoming edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, and he said that he is looking forward to it.

"Haven’t thought about Australia just yet, but it’s a challenge I am really looking forward to," he concluded.