Veteran Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik made history by becoming the first player in Indian cricket history to have a 15-year-long T20I career. The Indian cricket team made its T20I debut back in 2006 against the South African cricket team. Only one player from that Indian cricket team playing XI is still playing for the country and he is Dinesh Karthik.
So Karthik, who made his debut back in 2006 in the shortest format of the game, is also playing a match against South Africa in the year 2022, which marks a 15-year-long career in the shortest format of the game. No other Indian cricket team player has accomplished this feat in the shortest format of the sport.
A popular statistician shared this unique stat on Twitter after the playing XI of the Indian cricket team was announced for the first match of the five-match T20I series between the Indian cricket team and the South African cricket team. The first Indian player to have a 15-year-long Test career was Lala Amarnath, while the first one to do it in ODIs was Dilip Vengsarkar.
First Indian to complete 15-year long career in:
Test – Lala Amarnath in 1948
ODI – Dilip Vengsarkar in 1991
T20I – Dinesh Karthik in 2022Albeit long gaps in career, the Player of the Match of India's first T20I has also become the first to have a 15-year career.#INDvSA
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) June 9, 2022
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Dinesh Karthik scored one run in his comeback match for the Indian cricket team
Dinesh Karthik came out to bat in the final over of the Indian cricket team’s innings. He got to play only two balls, where he scored one run. Ishan Kishan stole the show with a magnificent fifty at the top. He scored 76 runs for the team. Speaking with the host broadcasters after the first innings, Kishan said:
“I think it is a very good total on this wicket. The ball was not coming on properly at the start and it was important to keep up the intent. Everything was happening at the start. When the ball comes like that, you tend to mishit. That is not good for us and the team.”
