The Indian captain who endured a barren spell in the shortest format since the IPL, has changed his game since the England T20s, and provided glimpses of his vintage self with some breathtaking shots on way to a 64 off 44 balls.
Karthik, the team’s designated finisher, justified his billing with a blazing, unbeaten 19-ball 41 cameo, as 52 runs came off the last four overs in a seventh-wicket stand with Ravichandran Ashwin (13 not out).
On a track where there was slow spongy bounce, most of the top-order batters were dismissed playing poor shots, even as the skipper carried on at the other end for his 27th half-century in this format.
In the process, he reclaimed his position as the highest run-getter (3443 runs) in T20Is from Martin Guptill (3399 runs).
His innings had seven fours and two sixes — a lofted shot dancing down the track off Jason Holder and a short-arm pull off Alazarri Joseph.
There were some delectable boundaries too — a back-cut, a cover drive and a deliberate glide over short third-man to enthral a sizeable Indian crowd present at the Brian Lara Stadium.
After being put into bat, Suryakumar Yadav’s elevation at the top of the order showed that coach Rahul Dravid is still looking at other options as Rohit’s opening partner, despite Rishabh Pant looking comfortable as an opener.
To be fair, Surya didn’t do all that badly and he showed intent during his 16-ball 24, which included a breathtaking six — a swivel of hips to send a rising delivery behind the square — besides three boundaries.
But, while trying to whip left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein through mid-wicket, all Surya managed was a thick outside edge to short third man.
A lot of credit should go to Hosein, who was brought well inside the powerplay and did a brilliant job with figures of 1 for 14, including 14 dot balls.
It was Hosein, who didn’t let Rohit tee off during that phase while Shreyas Iyer (0), Pant (14 off 12 balls) and Hardik Pandya (1) didn’t get too many at the other end.
It was left to Karthik, the eternal “20-ball man”, who smashed four fours and two sixes in a 360-degree display of shot-making.
