Dinesh Karthik - Early International Career

Early International Career

Karthik was selected for his first Indian squad in August 2004 for the ODI team, after the selectors decided to cease using Rahul Dravid as a makeshift wicket-keeper and also due to the poor form of alternative wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel. He played in only one match against England at Lord's, where he got out after scoring one run. Despite dropping England captain Michael Vaughan from the bowling of Anil Kumble, he eventually stumped Vaughan down the legside and took another catch. He played another match in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy against Kenya, taking three catches as India persisted with Dravid's wicket-keeping for the majority of the English tour. Karthik was not required to bat as India only lost four wickets in their innings. He was subsequently replaced in the ODI team by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who took over the gloves from Dravid on a full-time basis; Karthik did not play another ODI until April 2006.

Karthik made his Test debut in the 4th Test between Australia and India in Mumbai, when Parthiv Patel was dropped following a poor run of form with the gloves. He only managed 14 in two innings and two catches, but was praised for his wicket-keeping on a pitch with variable bounce and spin in which 40 wickets fell in two days’ playing time. Karthik tasted victory immediately as India scraped home by 13 runs. Karthik was retained for India’s next engagement, a two-Test home series against South Africa. In a high-scoring draw in which both teams passed 450 in the first innings, Karthik managed only a solitary run in the First Test in Kanpur. In the Second Test in Calcutta, he scored 46 to help extend India’s first innings lead to 106 runs, as the hosts completed an eight-wicket win.

Karthik had a chance to score heavily in India’s two-Test tour of Bangladesh in December 2004. Against a team that had never won a Test, India encountered little difficulty in sweeping the series, winning both matches by an innings. They passed 500 in both matches, but Karthik was unable to able to join the high-scoring, managing only 25 and 11.

Karthik returned to domestic cricket at the conclusion of the Tests while his colleagues played in the ODIs, and played in two Ranji Trophy matches for Tamil Nadu, scoring only 100 runs at 25.00 in four innings. In January 2005, a series of one-day domestic tournaments were held, and Karthik had a chance to press his claims for selection in that format, having never played more than three List A matches in a sequence. In five matches for Tamil Nadu, he only had three innings, but scored 72 and 80 in two of them. He was then called into South Zone’s senior team for the first time, to play in the zonal one-day competition. He scored 106 runs at 26.50 in four outings for the southerners. In the Challenger Trophy, Karthik played for India A against India B and India Seniors, and made little impact, scoring 17 and 3. He then played for South Zone in the first-class Duleep Trophy, but continued to have modest returns with the bat, scoring 101 runs at 25.25 in two outings, although he was run out in one innings after making a start and reaching 59.

Despite these lean performances, Karthik was retained for the three-Test series at home to Pakistan in March. In a high-scoring draw in the First Test in Mohali, Karthik made only six as India amassed 516. Karthik then put on his best Test batting performance to this point, at Eden Gardens, Kolkata against Pakistan. India batted first and Karthik made a start and reached 28, before being run out. India made 407 and Pakistan almost broke even, replying with 393. In the second innings, Karthik scored, combining with Rahul Dravid in a 166-run partnership to set up a target of 422. This proved too much for the tourists on the deteriorating pitch and India won the match by 196 runs. In the next match, he made only 10 and 9 as India collapsed and lost ten wickets on the final day of an otherwise high-scoring match—1280 runs had been scored for only 22 wickets in the first three innings.

Karthik was not selected for the ODIs against Pakistan and returned to action in one-dayers for Tamil Nadu in the meantime, but managed only 59 runs at 19.66 in three matches. In contrast, Dhoni scored 148 in an ODI against Pakistan and kept his position as the ODI gloveman safe. Despite Dhoni’s heavy run-scoring in the ODIs, the selectors continued to persist with Karthik for the Tests in the face of his low scoring at both domestic and international level in the preceding 12 months. Karthik started the tour of Zimbabwe with 40 in a warm-up match against the Zimbabwe Board XI. The hosts, depleted due to political purges conducted by their government, were no match for India and lost by an innings and ten wickets respectively. India scored heavily against their weakened opponents, amassing 554 and 366 in their completed innings, but Karthik failed on both occasions, twice making a single.

Karthik returned to India and made 26 and 11 in the Challenger Trophy for India A, which was not enough for him to force his way into India’s squad for the home ODIs against Sri Lanka and South Africa. In the meantime, he played in the Duleep Trophy and had the chance to make his case for Test retention. However, he scored only 106 runs at 26.50 in two matches and South Zone lost both of these and were eliminated, and Karthik spent the next month on the sidelines.

When the team for the three Tests at home to Sri Lanka was announced, Karthik was dropped in place of Dhoni. In ten Tests since his debut, Karthik had managed only 245 runs at an average of 18.84 with only one half-century and one other score beyond 25. In contrast, Dhoni's had been a prolific run-scorer in ODIs, and had won the man of the series award against Sri Lanka and scored 183 not out in one match.

Karthik continued to play for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy, but only scored 30 in his first four innings of the season. This dropped him down the pecking order as Patel was favoured as the reserve wicket-keeper on the 2006 tour to Pakistan. Immediately after the announcement, Karthik scored 134 against Mumbai in a losing effort, but was unable to back up with any scores beyond 50 in his five remaining innings in the competition.

Karthik then had mixed results in the domestic one-day competitions. He scored only one half-century in six matches for Tamil Nadu, a 79, and one further fifty in three matches for South Zone, ending with a total of 209 runs at 23.22.