Dinesh Karthik's first half-century in T20 after 16 years of debut

Dinesh Karthik has been included in Team India as a finisher in the 5-match home T20 series against South Africa IND vs SA T20. 

Karthik is capitalizing on this opportunity brilliantly. In the fourth T20 match of the series played in Rajkot, 37-year-old Karthik played a half-century inning on the crucial occasion and got Team India out of trouble. Dinesh Karthik has become the oldest player in India to score fifty in T20. 

During this, he also destroyed the record of former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dinesh Karthik played an innings of 55 off 27 balls against South Africa at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. He hit 2 sixes and 9 fours in his half-century innings. During this, his strike rate was more than 200.

Karthik's half-century came at a time when Team India was looking in trouble after losing 4 wickets for 81 runs. He played an important role in taking the score of Team India to 169 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs by playing the best innings. This is Dinesh Karthik's first half-century in T20 International cricket. 

He had to wait for 16 years for this half-century. He made his first fifty in T20 International cricket at the age of 37 years and 16 days. During this, the record of Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also destroyed, who played a half-century innings at the age of 36 years 229 days. Dhoni played this innings against South Africa in the year 2018. This was the second fifty of Dhoni's T20 International career. This is the biggest win for the Indian team in terms of runs against South Africa in T20. 

Earlier, Team India had defeated South Africa by 48 runs in the same series in the shortest format of cricket. This is South Africa's lowest score in T20 International cricket. Earlier, he was bundled out by Australia for 89 runs in Johannesburg in the year 2020. In the same year, Australia also bundled out the team's innings for 96 runs in Cape Town.