"Start Banging The Door Down...": Rahul Dravid's Strong Message To Indian Cricket Team Players With T20 World Cup Dreams

Dinesh Karthik as an "enforcer" opens up a lot of options going into the T20 World Cup, says India head coach Rahul Dravid, who wants to identify a core group of 18-20 players by the end of England series. For Dravid, to be a part of the World T20 set-up, it won't be enough to just the "knock the door". Anyone who wants to stake a claim in that squad of 15 will need to "bang it down". "It was really nice to see Karthik come off and do what he has been picked to do. That was good and it opens up a lot more options for us, going forward," Dravid said after the five-match series against South Africa ended in a 2-2 draw.

The last game was abandoned due to rain.

"He was picked for what he has been doing exceptionally well for the last two or three years (in IPL) and kind of indicated in the sense that it almost came together in the game at Rajkot," Dravid spoke about the Tamil Nadu dasher's 27-ball-55 that was crucial in India restoring parity in the series.

For Dravid, Karthik and Hardik Pandya are the two “enforcers” in the death overs.

"We needed that big performance in last five overs to make a par score and he and Hardik batted beautifully. Both of them are enforcers for us at the end," Dravid spelt out what role the team management has in mind for Karthik.

The coach had no hesitation in admitting that Karthik has made a good case for himself going into the T20 World Cup.

"I was telling guys that you have to start banging the door down and not just knocking the door down and innings like that (Rajkot fifty) means he is knocking very hard,” Dravid said.

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