Arun Karthik is one of those unsung heroes of domestic cricket who has kept on grinding over the years to make a formidable name for himself. With 88 First Class Matches to his name so far and just few runs short of completing 5000 FC Runs, Karthik has been a revelation this season as well with some great performances in the latest edition of Ranji Trophy.
In the match vs Services, Arun scored 58 in the first innings followed by a glorious 130 in the 2nd innings. In the 2nd innings, Arun did a VVS’que rescue for Pondicherry as they were struggling at 73/5 and 110/6 at one stage before Arun came in and pushed the team total to 313 in 96.3 overs. Even though, Services won that match, it was Arun who silently answered all his critics with his rock-solid batting under pressure.
Arun continued his purple patch in the match vs Goa, Arun showed his batting brilliance scoring a match winning century at a time when the team was reeling at 64/4 and 114/5 at one stage. It was Arun at no.5 who brought in his expertise and mastery with the bat scoring a solid 122 off 197 balls, an innings which included 10 boundaries and a lot of mud grinding between the wickets! Arun also forged a great partnership with Ankit Sharma (78 runs) taking the team total to 347 in 107 overs. Goa who scored 223 in 1st innings and 167 in 2nd innings lost the match as Pondicherry chased down the lead in the 4th innings with 9 wkts in hand.
In his most recent outing vs Jharkhand which started on 17th of January, 2023, Pondicherry batting first are 217/7 at the end of the day’s play with half centuries registered by Arun Karthik (68 runs) and Paras Dogra (68 runs). Here’s wishing Arun a great season ahead as he keeps on rising through the ranks while also proves to be a vital cog for Pondicherry team this season.
