Rohit Sharma’s first-ever international fifty was with my bat: Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik, the veteran Indian wicketkeeper, revealed that Rohit Sharma had scored his maiden half-century for the national team with his bat. Karthik, who hasn’t played for India since the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, went down the memory lane to the 2007 T20 World Cup match between India and South Africa at the Kingsmead in Durban.

Karthik had apprehensions about his bat after he bagged a golden duck after getting out to Shaun Pollock in the fifth over. Thereafter, Rohit asked for the bat and scored an unbeaten half-century off 40 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes. He also stitched together a partnership of 85 runs along with MS Dhoni, who got a 33-ball 45 before getting run out.

These kinds of things mean a lot to me: Dinesh Karthik

“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,” Karthik was quoted as saying in a conversation with Gaurav Kapoor on the show Breakfast with Champions.

“So I gave it to him. That day (need to give him credit) he just walked in straight with the bat in South Africa during World Cup and he 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,” he added.

Rohit’s knock turned out to be a game-changing one as India posted a competitive score of 153 on the board after being reduced to 61 for four in the 11th over. The target of 154 turned out to be too steep for the Proteas, who ended with 116 for nine in 20 overs.

Rohit turned out to be the Player of the Match for being the highest scorer from either side. Back then, he used to be a middle-order batter, but as his career progressed, he has groomed himself into a lethal opening batsman across all three formats of the game.