Dinesh Karthik wants to evade World Cup pressure

Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik is not thinking about his prospects in the 2019 cricket World Cup as he believes that it would put him under pressure.

The 33-year-old, who had played a match-winning knock in the final of the Nidahas T20 Trophy in Sri Lanka, said that the year has been phenomenal for him and that he is looking forward for the upcoming competitions.

"It has been a phenomenal year. Very happy to be in the place that I am. There's a lot to look forward to in the coming year. Actually, it is interesting times. I am not thinking so far ahead. Because as soon as I start thinking about the World Cup and all that there will be more pressure than what is already there," ICC quoted Karthik, as saying.

"There is obviously the Australia series, New Zealand series. There is a lot of cricket coming up, I need to focus on that . the best I can do and take it from there," he added.

The right-hand batsman, who is currently participating in the Ranji Trophy, said that he has no plans of giving up the first class cricket as he is enjoying his time with his tome team, Tamil Nadu.

"I really enjoy playing for Tamil Nadu. I think one of the joys of the sport is playing for the state. The minute I think that people see me as a burden playing for Tamil Nadu I will take a step back," Karthik said.

Karthik was a part of India's recently concluded three-match T20 series against Australia where he scored a total of 52 runs with an average of 26.

Overall, Karthik has played a total of 86 ODIs scoring 1663 runs with an average of 30.8. In Tests, he has scored 1025 runs with an average of 25.0 in 26 matches.