'Dreams do come true' - Dinesh Karthik tweets after his inclusion in India's T20 World Cup squad

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday, September 12, announced the 15-member squad of India for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. And the wicketkeeper-batter, Dinesh Karthik could not hide his excitement over his inclusion in the team, as he called it a "dream come true".

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The Indian cricketing fraternity, including the players, were eagerly waiting in unison for the announcement of the World Cup squad. Karthik, who has emerged as one of the best finishers in the country, has been deservedly given a spot on the Indian team. He is India's longest-serving player in the T20Is and was also part of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 which India won.

It all began following a successful outing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Karthik, where he scored 330 runs in 16 matches at a staggering strike rate of 183.33 and an average of 55.55. This earned him a comeback into the Indian team, playing his first game against South Africa in June since February 2019.

The Official Tweet Posted by Dinesh Karthik

However, he has only played the role of a finisher for the Men in Blue, scoring 193 runs with a strike rate of 133.10 in 18 games ever since.

Meanwhile, the Indian management has made some surprising omissions from the squad such as Sanju Samson and Avesh Khan among others. Moreover, star pacers Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Shami are among standby players, along with Shreyas Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi.

One of the surprise inclusions has been Rishabh Pant, who has been struggling for runs in the T20I circuit, scoring only 311 runs in 16 games at an average of 25.91.

India's squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022:

Rohit Sharma (C)

KL Rahul (VC)

Virat Kohli

Suryakumar Yadav

Deepak Hooda

Rishabh Pant (WK)

Dinesh Karthik (WK)

Hardik Pandya

Ravichandran Ashwin

Yuzvendra Chahal

Axar Patel

Jasprit Bumrah

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Harshal Patel

Arshdeep Singh

Standby: Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi

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Karthik is one of the three wicket-keeping options in India's T20 World Cup squad, alongside Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul.

In the limited opportunities he got, Karthik delivered two match-winning performances for India since his comeback. The first one is 55 off 27 against South Africa in Rajkot and another is 41* off 19 against the West Indies in Trinidad.