Dinesh Karthik - Back On The Fringes

Back On The Fringes

Upon his return to India, Karthik played in six one-dayers for Tamil Nadu and South Zone, reaching 40 twice in six innings. Karthik played in the 2008 Indian Premier League as the wicket-keeper for the Delhi Daredevils, scoring 145 runs at 24.16 with a strike rate of 135.51. His highest score was an unbeaten 56 to steer Delhi to a five-wicket win in a group match over the Mumbai Indians. In a match against the Deccan Chargers, team-mate Amit Mishra took a hat-trick, and when the new batsman came in, he charged out of his ground and missed, only for Karthik to miss the opportunity for the stumping and double hat-trick.

He was recalled to the Test team as a wicket-keeper for the July 2008 tour of Sri Lanka after Dhoni chose to take a break from cricket, citing the need to rest. Karthik played in the first two Tests, but struggled with the bat in the middle-order, scoring 36 runs at 9.00, falling all four times to the spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis. He also dropped frequent catches and he was replaced for the Third Test by Patel.

Following the loss of his place in the Indian team, Karthik returned home and played for India A in a series of one-dayers against their counterparts from Australia and New Zealand, and then for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy. He had an unsuccessful campaign, accumulating only 70 runs at 11.66.

He then had a strong domestic first-class season in 2008–09. After starting the Ranji Trophy campaign with two single-figure scores, he scored 213, featuring in a 213-run partnership with Subramaniam Badrinath as Tamil Nadu defeated Uttar Pradesh by an innings. Karthik then scored 123 and 113 in consecutive matches against Baroda and Railways before ending his Ranji Torphy campaign with 72 against Uttar Pradesh in the return match. He then continued his strong run against Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy, scoring 153 and 103 in one match. Karthik ended with 1026 runs at 64.12 for the season, including five centuries and two fifties.

He then scored an unbeaten 117 against Kerala in the one-day tournament and was selected for the tour of New Zealand as the reserve wicket-keeper. After watching the entire T20 and ODI series from the sidelines, he played in the Second Test after Dhoni was injured, but he was criticised for dropping multiple catches as the hosts amassed 9/619 and made only six in his only innings.

In the 2009 Indian Premier League held in South Africa, Karthik played in each of Delhi's 15 matches, scoring 288 runs at 36.00, passing 40 on three occasions and making 17 dismissals. Delhi topped the pool stage of the tournament, but Karthik made only nine in the semi-final as Delhi were defeated by six wickets by the Deccan Chargers.

He got a chance again in India's four match tour of West Indies where he replaced opener Sehwag, who was out with a shoulder injury. He scored 67, 4 and 47 as an opener which could help him claim a berth for the future, as India took the series 2–1.

With Sehwag still injured, he was retained for a short triangular ODI tournament in Sri Lanka in September. He scored 4 and 16 in India's two round robin matches and was dropped for the final, in which India triumphed over the hosts. Karthik was retained for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, but after his performances in Sri Lanka, was omitted for the first two matches. He was given an opportunity in India's final pool match against the West Indies and scored 34 in a seven-wicket win, but it was not enough to prevent India's first round exit.

Sehwag and Yuvraj recovered in time for the home ODI series against Australia, so Karthik returned to domestic duty at the start of the 2009–10 season. He played in Delhi's four matches in the 2009 Twenty20 Champions League, scoring 92 runs at 23.00, including a top-score of 61 against Sri Lanka's Wayamba. Delhi were knocked out in the Super 8 stage. Karthik played in six Ranji Trophy matches for Tamil Nadu as captain, and he had an uneven run of scoring with the bat. He scored 152 against Orissa and 117 against Punjab, and added a further two scores of at least 70, but managed only 16 runs in his four other innings. Karthik ended the season with 443 runs at 55.37. He also resorted to bowling himself twice, when matches were proceeding towards a draw, with no success; he delivered 14 overs and conceded 97 runs in all. However, Karthik was not to lead Tamil Nadu into the knockout stages of the competition.

In December 2009, Karthik was recalled to the ODI team during the Sri Lankan tour of India after Dhoni was banned after the second match for two matches because of slow over rates. Karthik kept wickets in the next two matches, scoring 32 and 19 and remaining unbeaten in both instances, helping to guide India to the target in successful runchases. He retained his place as a middle-order batsman in the fifth and final match when Dhoni returned after Tendulkar was rested and Yuvraj injured, but the match was ended prematurely due to an unsafe pitch.

Karthik retained his place for the ODI tri-series in Bangladesh against the hosts and Sri Lanka after Tendulkar was rested for the tournament. Karthik played as an opener along Gambhir in the last two of the round-robin matches after Sehwag was rested. Karthik made 48 and 34 in quick time as India won both matches but was dropped for the final, which was lost.

Karthik then played in the First Test at Chittagong after Dhoni was forced to withdraw due to injury. He made a duck in the first innings as India stumbled to 243 on the first day. He then made 27, falling in pursuit of quick runs for a declaration after India recovered in the second innings. India went on to win the match, and Karthik watched the next match from the sidelines after Dhoni recovered and steered India to a clean sweep.

Karthik was then displaced as the reserve gloveman for the two-Test home series against South Africa; Wriddhiman Saha was called up to be Dhoni's deputy. Karthik scored 183 and 150 in the Duleep Trophy final against West Zone, becoming the third player after Lalchand Rajput and Yuvraj Singh to score centuries in both innings of a Duleep Trophy final. However, it was not enough as Yusuf Pathan scored an unbeaten 210 from only 190 balls to set a new world record for a successful run-chase.

For 2012 Indian Premier League Dinesh Karthik transfer to Mumbai Indians from Kings XI Punjab.