Dinesh Karthik made his one-day international debut for India against England at Lord’s in September 2004, and his Test debut against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai two months later. He and Parthiv Patel were regarded as the country’s top two stumpers before Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived in great style, ruled the roost for one and a half decades, and has even retired from all forms of the game. Patel left the scene too, but Karthik has gamely carried on and has surprised the discerning and the layman showing zest and continuing to perform the difficult trade of wearing the big gloves and taking upon the role of a finisher in the shortest form of the game.
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On a number of times in the last twelve months or so, Karthik has gone on record saying that he wants to help India win a World Cup, with a special emphasis on the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in October- November. As events unfolded in recent times, Karthik made his own luck, turning out for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL season played in Maharashtra, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. Now into his 38th year, the doughty batter has staged a comeback into the men in blues team.
The selection committee — with former India fast bowler Chetan Sharma — appear to have ruled him for the next year’s 50 over World Cup to be played in India; the Tamil Nadu stumper was not in the ODI scheme of things after his last match against New Zealand in the previous World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford in July 2019. But the committee and the team management, mainly India captain Rohit Sharma and Head Coach Rahul Dravid, have taken a firm decision to keep him in the fray, at least for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.
After a good run in the IPL season 15, Karthik has been rewarded with a berth in virtually all Twenty20 engagements. He played 16 matches for the RCB, and scored 330 runs off 180 balls at a high scoring rate of 11 runs an over. He contributed much to RCB’s nine winning outcomes.
Former India stumper and Chairman of the national selection committee, Kiran More believes Karthik should find a place in the playing XI of the Asia Cup matches. ” Dinesh Karthik, I will definitely get him into the playing XI. Anyhow. With his age, the selectors have got him back into the team. It’s going to be tough to make a call on him. Look at his fitness, and he has performed. Dinesh has done well and he deserves to be in the playing XI. He has finished matches for India. His selection is not only a headache, but a good ache,’’ said More.
Karthik got the comeback break in the home series against South Africa and since then he has played fifteen matches since June this year. He has scored 192 runs with one half-century, a game-changing 55 against South Africa at Rajkot. He has contributed with big scores in fewer balls and has contributed to wins. Overall, Karthik has played 47 Twenty20 internationals and scored 591 runs.
With Rishabh Pant in the India ranks, it’s unlikely that Karthik will get to do serious work behind the wicket, but the decision-makers in Indian cricket believe that there is still a lot of steam left in Karthik to pummel the bowlers in the back end of the innings and add to the danger posed by the likes of Pant, Hardik Pandya.
Karthik has gone hammer and tongs to score 181 runs in nine matches at No. 7 at a strike rate of 9. 96. He has batted twenty times at No. 6 and scored 276 runs with a strike rate of 8.36. The selectors feel these are good numbers and that he could be a most valuable player.
The change from Kolkata Knight Riders to the Bangalore side with the backing of Virat Kohli in the recent IPL has helped Karthik a lot. He did not disappoint the RCB fans. A veteran of the IPL, Karthik has featured in all 15 seasons and has scored 4376 runs in 229 matches at a scoring rate of 7.96.
Cricketers when past the ripe age of 35 are written off, but Karthik has proved many critics and fans wrong. After being selected for the home series against South Africa, Karthik expressed happiness at staging a comeback into the national team. “I am very happy, it’s very satisfying, I must say that this has been probably my most special comeback because a lot of people had given up on me. I am indebted to RCB for the clarity that it gave me to execute the role that I wanted to do.”
Karthik is in the squad for the Asia Cup and it is almost certain that he will be in the scheme of things for the bigger challenges during the ICC Men’s World Twenty20 in Australia. With many options available it has to be seen how Sharma finds a place for him in the playing XI. The next three weeks will be interesting from this particular aspect of maximising Karthik’s batting prowess in the lower order.
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