Dinesh Karthik (DK) is on the verge of making his comeback to the Indian cricket team's playing XI in nearly three years, having last played for the national side in 2019. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer is almost certain to get a spot in the playing XI in the first match of the T20I series against South Africa which begins at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium tonight. Earlier on Thursday, former Team India opener Wasim Jaffer, who is known for his hilarious posts on social media, shared a video from the Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) blockbuster ‘Karan Arjun' as he gave a witty fillip to Dinesh Karthik's return to the national team.

In the short clip, Shah Rukh Khan, rather Arjun (the name of his character in the film) is speaking with Johnny Lever, where he could be seen telling him that he has “seen this place before” and has also worked there in the past.

Wasim Jaffer's post has since then gone viral, receiving nearly 16K likes and more than 900 retweets.

Earlier this month, Dinesh Karthik was back in the mix after being chosen to represent Team India in the series against the Proteas. His return to the Rishabh Pant-led squad came after his splendid batting performances for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the just-concluded season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Dinesh Karthik was the star of the competition, having played the role of a finisher for the Karnataka-based outfit to near perfection as he smashed 330 runs in 16 matches with an extraordinary strike rate of 183.33.

Due to his quick-fire knocks in the elite T20 tournament, Dinesh Karthik was named the ‘Super Striker of the Season', becoming the first Indian in the 15-year history of the IPL to claim the prestigious award.

Karthik's batting in the death overs was such that ex-Team India spinner Harbhajan Singh requested the selectors to include him in the squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia.

“Dinesh Karthik has been outstanding for RCB. He is very good at leg side shots than his off-sides, excellent at taking singles but I think, overall he understands his game very well. Whenever he is left with last chances, he makes sure that he finishes the game,” Harbhajan Singh told Indian broadcaster Star Sports.

“For me, if anyone has played the best role of a finisher in this entire IPL then it is none other than Dinesh Karthik. If I were a selector I would have given him a ticket to Australia for World Cup T20 and let him play for India as wicketkeeper and batsman because he deserves that,” Harbhajan Singh added.

RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar too had explained how Dinesh Karthik was churning out impactful finishes in the IPL and why he was given the specific role of a finisher in the team after the retirement of South African great AB de Villiers.

“Dinesh Karthik has been pretty good for us, we chose him for a particular role because we knew that since after AB de Villiers left that's gonna be a big hole to fill. With his balance and skill set he has actually got the best out of our younger batsmen who bat at the middle order with him,” Bangar said in an episode of inside RCB show.

Even Team India head coach Rahul Dravid echoed the same sentiments after Dinesh Karthik joined the national squad in Delhi ahead of their first match against the Temba Bavuma-led side.

“With Dinesh it is pretty obvious and very clear. He has made a comeback based on the skills that he has shown in a particular phase of the game. The phase of the game that Dinesh, at the back-end, has really been able to show skills over the last two or three years, he has been able to be a point of difference for whichever team that he has played,” Rahul Dravid said in a press conference a couple of days ago.

“I see that as no different (in Team India). That's why he has been picked. He has been picked to bat in that kind of position, and see whether he can replicate those kind of performance for India as well.”

India's T20I squad: Rishabh Pant (Captain and wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

Dinesh KARTHIK'S RECORD IN INTERNATIONAL CRICKET:

Test: M 26 | I 42 | R 1025 | HS 129 | Av. 25.00 | 1x100s | 7x50s | Ct 57 | St 6

ODI: M 94 | I 79 | R 1752 | HS 79 | Av. 30.20 | 9x50s | Ct 64 | St 7

T20Is: M 32 | I 26 | R 399 | HS 48 | Av. 33.25 | SR 143.52 | Ct 14 | St 5