Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli
Image Courtesy: Twitter

Dinesh Karthik made his international debut in 2004 under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and since then has had a rollercoaster of a career as he has been in and out of the national side on several occasions. Karthik, however, made a comeback to the senior national side and made important contributions to the team in the first as well as the second ODI against New Zealand.

Dinesh Karthik
Image Courtesy: Twitter

The wicket-keeper batsman played as a batsman in the series as MS Dhoni is India’s first choice keeper and was given a chance to bat at the number four position and impressed in the series against New Zealand which earned him another call-up against New Zealand. Karthik knows that he needs to perform whatever opportunities he gets to bat at whatever position to cement his place in the team.

Dinesh Karthik and Virat Kohli
Image Courtesy: Twitter

Aged 32, Karthik now feels scoring runs scoring runs matter but winning crucial matches is more important, he said,

“After a point in my career, I realised that it’s good to score those runs but you are remembered a lot of because of the tournaments you’ve won and the number of times you’ve stood up in big matches. If you were to ask me the greatest moment of my career, it has to be World T20 in 2007. On a personal note, I didn’t have a great tournament but just that fact that we won the tournament and that gave me a lot of memories. It just feels good that I was part of that. Even the Test series in England in 2007. Yes, I did well personally but more than that, me contributing to the team’s success gives me a lot of satisfaction,”  

Dinesh Karthik
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – SEPTEMBER 24: Dinesh Karthik of India celebrates with the trophy after the Twenty20 Championship Final match between Pakistan and India at The Wanderers Stadium on September 24, 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

Remembering the triumph of 2007 T20 World Cup Karthik said:

“When I look back, it’s winning these big tournaments that give me a lot of pleasure. The Champions Trophy in 2013, again. These are the big moments. In between I’ve scored runs, I’ve scored centuries and I’ve failed as well but those are not things that you remember so much. These are just conversational things when you meet someone and it comes up that this happened and this much you scored and that happened.

“I’ve been in that sort of mindset for a long time now. I was speaking to a legend and he was telling me no one remembers people’s averages per say. They only remember the knocks you play in terms of your career. But individually, all you remember is the tournament win. One thing [VVS] Laxman told me was it doesn’t matter if I score 30 or 40 runs. What’s more important is to score runs in such a way that I help my team win.” 

Dinesh Karthik
Image Courtesy: Twitter

Talking about grabbing the number four position in the ODI side:

 “It’s a little hard to say, in terms of why people haven’t been able to nail that spot, I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint just one aspect, I can say only for myself because I’ve batted for Tamil Nadu and in the IPL at No. 4. I can confidently say that I’m very confident to bat in that position,” he says. “I’ve batted in situations where the score is 0 for 2, 10 for 2 and there have been times when the score has been 210 for 2. I understand what needs to be done and how to go about it and in the experience comes in really handy then.”

“The No. 4 batsman is under the scanner because nobody has probably done as well to seal the spot. So whoever is there is under the spotlight. That’s just about it. It’s pretty simple if I can do well if I’m able to be consistent and able to do what the team management wants me to do, then there won’t be any scrutiny per say.”

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