There weren’t too many surprises in the Rest of India squad chosen for the Irani Trophy or even the teams selected for the Challenger Cup. The U-19 World Cup heroes deservedly got their chance. India’s second best wicket-keeper in the country, after M S Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, has also been given a slot in the squads. While Karthik’s selection was all but guaranteed, looking at his name in the list one only wondered what the future has in store for him. With Dhoni being captain and leader, Karthik will rarely find himself in the Indian playing XI even if he is a part of the squad.
One has to feel for Karthik for playing in the same era as Dhoni. It is not that the Tamil Nadu hasn’t done a good job whenever he has been called up for national duty. In fact, on most occasions, he has performed admirably well, yet has had to make way for the regulars in the team. On his maiden tour to England, Karthik took on the challenging responsibility of opening the innings, and returned with his reputation enhanced. Karthik’s performance was one of the reasons why India did creditably well on that tour.
As a keeper too, Karthik has done an acceptable job behind the stumps. One of his stumpings during the early part of his career, when he leapt in the air to take off the bails remains among the best by any keeper in modern day cricket. Over time, he settled into a normal role behind the stumps, but Dhoni arrived with his extraordinary skills and just confined Karthik to the back burner. He’s still around in the reckoning, considering his selection for the Challenger team as well as the one for the Irani Trophy. But, with Parthiv Patel also coming back into the picture, his chances have decreased that much.
In a sense, Karthik also has himself to blame. A couple of seasons back, he had an extended stint as one-day opener, with Virender Sehwag unavailable. Karthik looked good in most of the matches he featured in, but was unavailable to convert any of those into big scores. He was the man of the man in the 2010 Asia Cup final, in which India beat Sri Lanka at Dambulla by a comprehensive margin. But, instead of building on that gain, he floundered the subsequent opportunities that came his way.
Had Karthik put in a Virat Kohli like performance when he was in the playing XI, it would have been difficult to displace him from his batting position even if he wasn’t keeping wickets. Of course, Karthik isn’t as talented as Kohli, but it is fact that he had the ability to convert his 50s into hundreds. Possibly, he did not find enough inspiration knowing that no matter how well he does, it would be difficult for him to sustain his place. Even so, what he could have done with some stellar knocks is, put the selectors in a quandary.
--By A Cricket Analyst
