Cricketer Dinesh Karthik has taken social media by storm after his batting heroics in the final of a tri-series T20 tournament took India to victory.
Karthik’s 29 runs off eight balls helped his team snatch victory from Bangladesh at the Nidahas Trophy.
He hit a six off the last ball when India needed five runs to win – causing Twitter to explode with delight.
Former star cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were among those celebrating.
Dinesh Karthik was trending on Sunday night and early Monday morning, with many applauding his innings.
The 32-year-old was named man of the match for his performance.
“I’m really happy to come out of this tournament,” Karthik said in the post-match press conference. “It wouldn’t have done justice to this tournament had we not won with the bunch of young guys in the team. I have been practising these shots – having a strong base and then hitting from there.”
India vice captain Rohit Sharma, who was captaining the team in the absence of Virat Kohli, told reporters it was a “brilliant game”, adding that he was “very happy” to see Karthik’s powerful performance.
Many regulars like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya did not play in the match, with younger and newer players taking their place. “Great tournament for us,” Sharma told media after the match. “These games are not easy and these guys have not played a lot for the national team. And this performance will give them a lot of confidence.”