The world has very vivid memories of a 19-year old wicketkeeper in India colours –flying across the crease with his one leg high in the air and one hand stretching from far outside the leg-stump to take the bails off the stumps – as he enforced the wicket of English skipper Michael Vaughan at the iconic Lord’s cricket ground back in the year 2004. It was a sight to behold, as that kind of work behind the wickets was not something that could be seen every day.
Those who don’t remember or haven’t seen that piece of magic themselves, might think the player was MS Dhoni or even Parthiv Patel, who was at the helm with the gloves in those days. However, the young player was Dinesh Karthik.
Thirteen years have passed, Karthik is still in the picture. But at 32, he has played just 108 matches in the Indian jersey. And that probably describes the Tamil Nadu cricketer better than the stumping in 2004 – his time in and out of the Indian dressing room.
Weak Debut and Dhoni’s Arrival
The Lord’s ODI was also Karthik’s debut match. Although he returned with just a solitary run after facing 12 deliveries, his superb stumping shot him to fame overnight. His exploits with the bat in the 2004 U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, where he played an innings of 70 off just 39 deliveries against Sri Lanka and a couple of half-centuries against Zimbabwe Select XI on India A tour to Zimbabwe, played their parts in his propulsion to the Indian senior team that was desperately in search of a good wicketkeeper-batsman during those days.
Soon, he was called up into the Indian Test squad to make his debut against Australia. But, he could only manage a single score of 50 in his first 10 matches and that led to his axing from the squad. Not long after, he fell out of favour as MS Dhoni arrived on the international arena in 2005.
While Karthik did continue his run-scoring spree in the domestic circuit, he could not get a permanent place as a wicketkeeper in the Indian squad as Dhoni had sealed it off with his performances and there was no room for a specialist batsman in the team at the time.
Comeback After Two Years
Karthik worked hard on both his batting and wicket-keeping and started scoring consistent runs in domestic cricket playing as an opener for Tamil Nadu. Such was his form that he was recalled into the Indian squad in the latter part of 2006 as a specialist batsman after injuries and bad form of some players had plagued the Indian side.
Successive series against oppositions like South Africa, West Indies, and Sri Lanka didn’t make comeback easy for Karthik. But, a 50 while opening the innings against South Africa in the first Test at Cape Town and a match winning 63 against West Indies in an ODI at Cuttack forced the selectors to give him an extended run.
His real break came after India’s 2007-World Cup debacle. A good time for him followed as he had two successive good away series against Bangladesh and England. His maiden Test century against the Tigers in the second Test of the series at Dhaka is something that he will remember for a lifetime.
And when he emerged as the top run getter for India in their first Test series victory in England after 21 years, things finally seemed like falling into place for Karthik.
However, his impressive form faded away during the latter part of 2007 as he managed just 151 runs in the next 10 Test innings and yielded almost similar results in ODIs. As a result, he was once again axed from the squad.
Erratic Comebacks
A fantastic 2008/09 season in which he scored over 1,000 first-class runs once again saw him getting back into the Indian squad for all three formats for the tour of New Zealand. However, he failed to cash in on whatever opportunities he got. Another failure with the bat in the following tour of Bangladesh put a stop to his Test career in 2010 and he has never been able to make it to the Test squad since then.
The same could have happened with his ODI career also after he had a poor tri series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in August 2010.
However, another fabulous 2012/13 domestic season got him the ticket for the 2013 Champions Trophy. Despite scoring a century in the warm up games, he didn’t perform to his potential in the tournament yielding just one fifty in four matches.
His career again reached a dead end in 2014 after another poor run of form. Most people thought that it was the final time they were seeing him in India colours.
2014: Big IPL Payday
International failures didn’t stop Karthik from earning a good fortune through his IPL career. The Delhi Daredevils bought him for Rs 12.5 crore in the 2014 IPL auction. He scored a healthy 325 runs in 14 matches of that edition, including three 50s and that too at a decent strike rate of 125.96. However, those returns hardly did justice to his price tag. So, he was released by the Daredevils for the 2015 IPL auction.
Karthik got lucky for the second time in the 2015 IPL auctions as the Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for Rs 10.5 crore. However, poor returns of only 141 runs in 16 matches at an average of 12.81 forced RCB to sell him next year.
This time, he found his new home with the Gujarat Lions franchise and played an instrumental role in their quest to the semi-finals scoring 335 runs in 16 matches. He followed it up with another superb run in 2017 also as he amassed 361 runs in 14 matches, even though his team ended up at the bottom half of the league table.
Superb Domestic Form, but India Call up Looked Unlikely
All the doors for an India call up looked closed for Karthik. Everyone had ruled out his chances of an Indian team recall once again as age was also not on his side. But, the prolific Tamil Nadu batsman knew that he was just one good season away from getting into the Indian team setup once again.
A total of 704 runs in the Ranji Trophy, 211 runs in the Duleep Trophy, 607 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, as well as 202 runs in the Deodhar Trophy at averages of 54.51, 52.75, 86.71, and 101 respectively in the 2016/17 domestic season opened the doors to the Indian team once again.
To go with those numbers, he had also scored 361 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.10 and strike rate touching 140 in the 2017 edition of the IPL as well.
And the selectors rewarded him with a Champions Trophy ticket. Although, he didn't get to feature in a single match in the tournament, he scored an unbeaten 50 in an ODI and 48 in the T20I of the following tour of the West Indies.
He didn't get to play a single match despite being in the three match T20I squad of the recent series against Australia. However, he is back in contention for an extended India run with his innings of 64* against New Zealand in the second ODI at Pune. If he can cash in on the opportunities, he can put an end to India's long quest for their number 4 batsman.
Can He Finally Live up to Expectations?
Karthik's international and domestic career records have a stark contrast. Neither his Test nor his ODI records do justice to his abilities as a batsman.
An average of 27.77 in Tests nowhere near to that of first class average of 42.07 in which he has scored almost 10,000 runs. He has been a batting giant in first-class cricket for Tamil Nadu over the years and it is evident from his numbers.
Things are pretty similar when his List A and ODI career numbers are compared as well. His ODI average of 29.91 is far less than that of his List A average of 39.55. And his strike rate has a huge difference too.
It has been 13 years since he has been around the international scene but he hasn't been able to fulfill his enormous potential yet. The selectors have always shown faith in him and have never backed off from giving him opportunities to prove himself as an India prospect whenever he has performed well in the domestic circuit.
It's time that he puts an end to his saga of erratic comebacks and fulfills his promise by becoming a regular in the Indian team on the back of good performances.
(Prasenjit Dey is a freelance cricket writer. He can be reached at @Prosen02. The opinions expressed are the author’s own and The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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