The rise of Dinesh Karthik

When you talk of someone having lived in the shadow of the other person throughout his career, people tend to generally think of Rahul Dravid, who despite performing so well for India with the bat had always been rated next to the genius of Sachin Tendulkar. But the fact of the matter is – Rahul was, at least, able to continuously play for India and develop his own image. And getting sidelined in the era of Tendulkar was no shame either as the little master is a sort of player who can appear only once in a millennium.

But when you track down the career of another cricketer of the current era, the former Karnataka batsman must consider himself very fortunate. Despite being in the shadows of Sachin for the most part of his career which spanned over 16 years, he was given his own recognition as the second best batsman in the team. However, things were not the same with a man from Tamil Nadu who made his debut for the Indian team late in 2004 as a wicket keeper batsman, only to vacate the place in the following year to the current Indian captain M.S.Dhoni.

Dinesh Karthik was first selected for the Indian team nine years ago, as a wicket keeper. But as soon as Dhoni made his way into the team as a destructive wicket keeper batsman in 2005, the Tamil Nadu player saw himself being relieved of his gloves. Though he could still find himself a position in the team as a top order batsman (mainly in the opening slot), especially in test matches, he hardly received any chance to keep wickets for his side thereafter. So, featuring in the side regularly became all the more impossible for him as he was left to fight for a place in the side primarily as a batsman. And when the Jharkhand wicket keeper was also appointed the skipper of the side, he grabbed the opportunity with both the hands, leaving Karthik to fight hard for his survival.

Dinesh was never a wicket keeper to start with. His aspiration was to become a top order batsman since his childhood. But in order to survive in this competitive world, he decided to increase his chances of being selected for the national side by donning the keeping gloves. Ideally with the sort of batting he had, he should have been a regular member of the Indian team, given the fact that he used to keep wickets too. MSD’s success with the bat and his elevation as the captain of the team made Dinesh fight for his existence in the side. The Indian skipper was not in a position to play him primarily as a wicket keeper either. As a result, the Tamil Nadu player was forced to show his batting credentials consistently to be in the team. Sadly, he failed to make that happen and that’s why was unable to find a place in the national team regularly. In the 23 test matches he has played, he has scored a lone test century, which came against Bangladesh. One notable accomplishment of his career was the success that he enjoyed playing as an opener in a test series during India’s tour of England in the year 2007. He finished as the top run getter in that series too. Since then, he could not produce a significant contribution to the side and, therefore, was overlooked by the selection committee. The situation was no different for him in case of ODIs too.

Over the years, India had been producing wicket keepers of immense potential. Prominent among them were Kiran More, Chandrakant Pandit, Sadanand Vishwanath, Saba Karim, Nayan Mongia, and not to mention the evergreen Syed Kirmani. If you look at the careers of all those keepers, barring perhaps Mongia and Kirmani to an extent, not everyone was able to cement their position in the team for very long. None of the keepers was persisted with regularly primarily due to the inability of anyone of them to add value to the team. Since Dhoni is not only smarter than Karthik behind the wickets, but also has been producing magical innings at the lower middle order, he still remains in the team for close to eight years now. As a result, the Mumbai Indians batsman has been forced to live in the shadows of the current Indian captain all these years.

At the start of the champions trophy last week, MSD made it clear that Dinesh had earned his place in the playing XI. Getting selected to play for your country is one thing, but to be able to find a place in the playing XI requires years of dedication and hard work. So, it was really a commendable fight back by him to find a place for himself in the team as a regular batsman. It was not just his performance in the IPLs and domestic season, which helped him to get into the national team. While the performances in IPL, where you get the opportunity to play against world class bowlers, and your form in the domestic season are important to gain entry into the national side, Karthik’s selection had more to do with the change in his batting approach.

He is much improved a batsman now. All those days, when he was out of the national side, he has done well to better his technique, especially his back foot play. Though he has been an aggressive player right from the start, he was unable to match the muscle power of Dhoni who can clear the boundaries at will. Nowadays, Karthik, as we have seen him in his recent stints in IPL, has developed many cheeky shots in his arsenal and has learnt to play them safe too. Furthermore, he is now playing the horizontal bat shots far better than a year ago. The fact that India has the “Safari Series” coming up later this year may just get fetch him that nod to be in the touring party.

His performances in the warm up matches in England prior to the start of champions trophy where he scored centuries against Srilanka and Australia indicate he is oozing with confidence, and he has taken his batting very seriously. With batsmen like Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh getting dropped from the national side, this is the perfect time for the 28 year old from Tamil Nadu to make a name for himself, performing consistently in the international arena. Let us hope this young batsman exploits the current scenario and buys a permanent place in the Indian team.