Dinesh Karthik hopes to make return to Indian squad
Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has had never had or has never been able to keep his place in the Indian Cricket Team for a long enough duration. He did not do himself any good by being inconsistent when he did get a chance to prove himself. His average of under 28 runs in both Tests and ODIs does not make impressive reading. But, one could also argue that he was not given enough time to show the selectors his worth.
Since the retirement of MS Dhoni from Tests in 2014, Karthik has been one of the many wicketkeepers touted to replace Dhoni. Wriddhiman Saha is the one who is currently the first choice of the selectors to don the gloves in the longer format.
However, Karthik is determined to score more runs and earn a place in the Indian Test squad. “I am at a stage where I want to score so much runs that they cannot ignore me,” he said.
He was speaking to the media after scoring a fighting 167 for Tamil Nadu against Mumbai in the third round of the Ranji Trophy to take his team to a good total. At one point of time, Tamil Nadu were struggling at 203-6, when Karthik and spinner Malolan Rangarajan had a partnership of 182 runs to take their team to safety.
Karthik believed that his batting gives him a significant advantage over other contenders for the Test wicketkeeping spot – Saha, Naman Ojha, and Parthiv Patel.
“For me, unlike other keepers it's totally a different ball game. I have played as a batsman so I always back myself to play as a batsman and fielding comes to me pretty naturally so it's never been a problem,” Karthik said.
“I don't look at myself as a wicketkeeper-batsman who is only into that sort of mould because I have played as a batsman, so I think a little bit different that way,” he continued.
Karthik will definitely give the national team selectors headaches if he continues his good run of form with the bat. The 30-year-old wants to set the bar high for himself and continue scoring big hundreds, thus grabbing the attention of the concerned people.
Despite being focused on wanting to score more runs, Karthik feels that his wicketkeeping has also improved in leaps and bounds, and will further strengthen his case for a place in the Indian Test squad.
“I have really worked on my keeping and it's coming out really well. I had a couple of good games. I am really confident of my keeping,” he said.