You can never rule out a player of Virat Kohli's calibre: Dinesh Karthik

Virat Kohli, who is struggling to get back to form, has found support from his teammates. Just like India skipper Rohit Sharma, swashbuckling batter Dinesh Karthik has also come out in Kohli's support. "Virat has experienced insane success over the period of time. Now he will get a good break and will come back all recharged and hopefully will do phenomenally well. You can never rule out a player of his calibre," Karthik said on the sidelines of a training session with the budding cricketers at the PS Sports Excellence Arena here on Monday. Kohli has been rested for the West Indies tour which will begin on July 22.

Making a comeback into the India team almost after three years was a challenging task for the 37-year-old Karthik given the talent pool India have now, but he attributes it to the hard work he has done over the years. "It is never easy, but I have worked hard for it. Also, given the bench strength that we have today, the competition is always going to be a part of it. This is the beauty of Indian cricket," he acknowledged. Wicketkeeper batter Karthik will next be seen playing the T20 series against the Windies scheduled to start from July 29. Talking about the T20 World Cup scheduled later this year in Australia, he said that the team has started preparing for the flagship tournament. "As a team we are preparing for the challenges we will have to face during the upcoming world cup. Coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma have taken everyone along as we prepare for the big event. It is a very positive environment," he said. Karthik added that his focus is on performing well and he is not thinking about the selection in the WC squad.