Dinesh Karthik hails India's chasing abilities

India wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, who made his World Cup debut on June 2 against Bangladesh, is all praises for the team's chasing ability.

"India has been a good chaser for a long time now. So, we are now very confident of chasing," Karthik said in a pre-match press conference here on Friday.

However, many teams including the hosts have failed to successfully chase targets in the ongoing tournament. While opining over teams failing to chase targets, Karthik said: "The reason for this is that they are worried about the scoreboard pressure but we as a team believe that we are good chasers."

Karthik was included in the playing XI during the team's eighth game in the premier tournament. Although he failed to leave his mark during the match, Karthik said he is really happy.

"I have been around for 15 years, to play that game I was really happy. For me to come here and sit for the first initial games and then get a chance against Bangladesh that was something I was really forward to. I am really happy, I think it is a really important phase of the tournament and I would like to do the best that I can moving forward for team India," he said.

India sit on the second position on the points table and will play their last match against Sri Lanka before heading into the semi-finals.

Karthik said that they are going to have semi-finals at the back of their minds while playing against Sri Lanka.

"First up, I think it is Sri Lanka, there are few players would want to achieve personally and as a team as well. We would definitely want to play our best game that we can but having said that, at the back of our minds, we do have the semi-finals in our mind. That is a big game for us, for all the teams that qualify, it is going to be a massive game," Karthik said.

Talking about semi-finals, Karthik said: "On any given day, any team can stand up and that is the beauty of the tournament like a World Cup because once you hit the semi-final mark, it is just that one day and you got to make sure that you stand up on that day."

India will face Sri Lanka on July 6.