Dubai: India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik on Thursday hailed the Rohit Sharma-led side after it claimed the top spot in the ICC Men’s T20I team rankings and credited India’s bench strength for the rise in the rankings. India surpassed England to claim the No. 1 position after a series whitewash over the West Indies this week. “Who doesn’t want to be world No.1 even if it is for some period of time? Because other teams will play matches and then India plays more matches post IPL, so that could change. For the moment, knowing that Team India is the No.1 T20 team in the world is I think a very good feeling,” Karthik told ICC. “I think it is the quality of players. When you talk about good teams over a period of time, they always talk about the fact that bench strength needs to be very important, and India has great bench strength. “If you take this series, they have rested Virat Kohli, they have rested Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah. But in spite of that, they have produced an astounding 3-0 series victory against the West Indies.” Karthik also heaped praise on the newcomers in the squad like Venkatesh Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Harshal Patel and said they are “grabbing their opportunities with both hands”. “The guys coming in new have really grabbed on to their places. Suryakumar, Venkatesh. It’s just good to watch Harshal Patel, he has been an absolute revelation.” UNI BAV MR
