Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik Biography

Somewhere in India’s perennial wicketkeeping hunt in early 2000, Dinesh Karthik broke into the scenes. Extremely quick and agile behind the stumps, Karthik has a graceful batting style. He can play a conventional square-drive as well as a scoop over fine leg. He, in fact, knows how to come to terms with the modern dynamics of the game.

After spending two years in the domestic circuit, Karthik made his way to India’s ODI playing XI in 2004, replacing a struggling Parthiv Patel. Spotting his talent, he was shortly drafted into the Test squad as well.

However, like the previous wicketkeeper-batsmen, Karthik’s inconsistency became a great hindrance in his topsy-turvy career. With a power-hitter like MS Dhoni at India’s disposal, Karthik could actually never cement his place.

Not that Dhoni was an exceptional wicketkeeper but Karthik’s mistakes behind the wickets dearly costed India a few matches. Not that he could not score runs at a brisk rate but — unlike Dhoni— he often failed at crucial junctures.

However, his attractive stroke-making was something that made him stand out and impressed the then coach Greg Chappell. With Virender Sehwag struggling to score runs, Karthik played as a specialist opener in India’s tours of South Africa 2005-06 and England 2007, and churned out runs in swinging condition with opening partner Wasim Jaffer. But his inconsistency came back to haunt him, eventually being replaced by Sehwag in India’s tour Down Under 2008.

In short, Karthik often played a role that of a backup player.

Karthik amassed over 1,000 First-Class runs in 2008-09, studded with 5 spectacular hundreds. He guided Karnataka into the semi-final with his audacious captaincy, with also a match-winning 213 to his name.

In Yuvraj Singh’s absence, Karthik played as a No. 4 batsman in Champions Trophy 2013. Barring an unbeaten half-century against West Indies, Karthik failed to provide impetus. However, despite the poor run of form, he was played in the West Indies Tri-Nation Series 2013, in which he managed to score only 86 runs in 5 matches.

After Dhoni calling it a day from international cricket, there were talks of Karthik replacing him but his wicketkeeping skills were unmatched to Wriddhiman Saha’s.

IPL is something that best suited Karthik to boast of his crafty batsmanship. He was bought by Delhi Daredevils for INR 12.5 crore in IPL 7 auction and INR 10.5 crore in the next by Royal Challengers Bangalore. His cricketing skills have always been acknowledged in IPL by paying him hefty amounts. But with so many wicketkeeper-batsmen emerging in the domestic circuit, Karthik’s prominence seem to be fading away, as in IPL 9 he was bought for only INR 2.3 crore.

If truth be told, Karthik could never do justice to the immense talent he is gifted with.

Karthik got married to ace squash player Dipika Pallikal in 2015. Along with Dipika’s mother Susan Itticheria, and Karthik forms the only mother-in-law and son-in-law pair to have played international cricket.

Kaustubh S. Mayekar

Dinesh Karthik Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	26	42	1025	1	129	25.00	2080	49.27	1	7	134	4	57	6
ODIs	94	79	1752	21	79	30.20	2392	73.24	0	9	176	15	64	7
T20s	32	26	399	14	48*	33.25	278	143.5	0	0	42	15	14	5
World Cup	3	2	14	0	8*	7.000	34	41.17	0	0	2	0	3	0

Dinesh Karthik Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	26	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	94	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	32	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	3	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--

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