It has been a roller-coaster ride in international cricket for Dinesh Karthik. Since making his ODI debut against England at Lord’s in September 2004, the dashing Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper underwent acclaim and rejection before making his way into the National squad again. All that happened in a short span of two years. Now the teenager has matured to sport an assured demeanour. Gone is the nervous energy that did him in, in his initial stint. A couple of match winning knocks in South Africa (31 not out in a Twenty20 match) and at home (63 against West Indies at Cuttack) have been his latest tickets to fame. They also landed him a berth in the World Cup squad. Earlier this week, he was smiling ear-to-ear after being signed up by Nike. Soon after parading the new team uniform with captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth, the 21-year-old related his experiences with the Indian squad, his comeback and the challenges ahead.
"Positive" and "confident" were liberally sprinkled during his chat with TOI in the car on his way to the airport. "One year ago, I never thought I would make the World Cup squad. It wasn’t even on my mind," he says. But such has been the turn of events that his batting abilities have landed him a plump spot in the middle-order. It all began with a 400 he struck as opener for new employers Chemplast in a local league match in Chennai. An audacious 134 off 182 balls in a Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai at the Wankhede in December 2005, set the tone. "It didn’t happen by chance. I made a conscious effort to polish my batting technique," he explains.
At the other end, the Indian squad were hurtling towards one batting disaster after another. It reached abysmal levels in South Africa. Karthik got his opportunity then and made it count. "The Twenty20 game was a small turning point," he admits. It gave him a foothold not only in the ODI team but also in the Test XI during the South African sojourn. "I have become more judicious in my shot selection," he indicates. He began feeding on the competitive spirit in the squad and the inputs from heavyweights Tendulkar and Dravid. "You can learn so many things from them," he says. In ten of the 13 ODIs that he has played so far, he has been in the side as a middle-order batsman. Doesn’t he miss wicketkeeping? "I do," he admits but points to his routine, which includes wicketkeeping drills. "I know that I am in the team as a batsman. But if Dhoni is not available I will have to keep wickets." While skeptics point to a competition between him and Dhoni, Karthik corrects it by saying, "I enjoy a very healthy relationship with Dhoni." He adds, "Remember, there are four wicketkeepers in the side Dravid, Robin Uthappa, myself and Dhoni."
courtesy:timesofindia
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