Dinesh Karthik eyes comeback to the Indian team as a specialist batsman

Dinesh Karthik, a player who is filled with cricketing talent hasn’t had the kind of international career that proves it. He might consider himself little unlucky to be playing in the era where a giant of the game MS Dhoni played for the Indian side and all other wicket-keeper batsmen were overshadowed by his might.

But Karthik has proved time and again that he is more than just a wicket-keeper batsman and has shown glimpses of being capable of playing as a specialist batsman in the side. His dream of representing the nation is still alive and he is looking to return to the side.

“I dream of playing for India again. I have done enough to be considered a specialist batsman for the country too. For India, I have batted from No. 1 to 7″, said the 31-year-old to The Hindu.

He has been in a wonderful form of late having scored 397 runs with a massive average of 99.25 and a strike rate of 115.07 in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the Ranji Trophy as well, he had amassed 704 runs at an average of 54.15. He believes that he is now able to build his innings better than ever.

“My core game has improved with belief, planning, and execution. My defense was always good, it is just that I am building my innings in a better manner now, picking the right strokes,” the Tamil Nadu cricketer said.

He also reckons that spending time with the Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar has helped him a lot. “We talked a lot about preparation, on mindset, about doing the same routine again and again, things you do off the field, and ticking all the boxes”, he added.

His previous comeback for India was in the 2013 Champions Trophy where he was picked in the side as a pure batsman after a consistent run in the domestic cricket as well as in the IPL for the Mumbai Indians. His performances then weren’t consistent enough for India and as a result, was dropped from the side later.

After the retirement of Dhoni from the Test cricket, Wriddhiman Saha was the first choice keeper to replace him and he has been doing really well since that made it even more difficult for Karthik to break into the squad. But he is working harder now on his keeping skills along with his batting.

“I have been training under former India ’keeper Sameer Dighe. Now, I am able to keep to the ball spinning away from the right-hander better”, he told about his earlier problems of keeping wickets to left-arm orthodox and leg-spinners.

Karthik will be featuring in the IPL for the Gujarat Lions starting this April. He will be hoping to perform well there and catch the eyes of the selectors for the Champions Trophy that follows.