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Dinesh Karthik – The Evergreen Wicketkeeper
Dinesh Karthik is one of the few Indian wicketkeeper-batter options to have lingered at the international scene for quite some time now. Though he is currently exploring commentary options, having last played an international match back in 2019, the man hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a comeback. Karthik’s career in international cricket unfortunately coincided with that of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The gigantic stature of the Jharkhand-born former skipper of the Indian national team overshadowed Karthik’s career, largely limiting his appearances. However, whenever he got his chances, Karthik continued to perform and gave his team that additional batting option down the order.
Karthik’s almost 14-year-long Indian T20 League journey has been diversified by his inclusion in as many as seven teams. He was given the additional responsibility of leading the Kolkata team in 2018, replacing Gautam Gambhir. He guided them to the play-offs in the very first season as the captain. However, a subsequent dip in the overall form of the team made him relinquish those responsibilities halfway through the 2020 Indian T20 League season. He had been hoping to play the seventh edition of the T20 World Cup but couldn’t make it to India’s squad for the tournament, held in 2021 after being postponed for a year because of the pandemic.
Karthik was the wicketkeeper and middle-order batter for Team Kolkata working as the second-in-command to Eoin Morgan in 2021 as they managed to reach the final of the tournament in the UAE. He was released by his team ahead of the mega auction in February 2022 and was signed by the Bangalore team for ₹5.5 crores.
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Dinesh Karthik’s Personal Details
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- Name
- :
- Dinesh Karthik
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- Date of Birth
- :
- 1st June 1985
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- Birthplace
- :
- Chennai, India
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- Height
- :
- 5′7″
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- Batting Style
- :
- Right-handed batter
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- Playing Role
- :
- Wicketkeeper-batter
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- Teams Played For
- :
- India, Delhi team, Punjab team, Mumbai team, Bangalore team, Gujarat team, Kolkata team
Dinesh Karthik’s Current Rankings
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T20 180th -
ODI 173rd -
Test 201st
Dinesh Karthik’s Career Summary
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- Format
- M
- Inn
- Runs
- HS
- Avg
- SR
- 100
- 200
- 50
- 4s
- 6s
- CT
- ST
-
- Test
- 26
- 42
- 1025
- 129 vs. Ban
- 25.00
- 49.27
- 1
- 0
- 7
- 134
- 4
- 57
- 6
-
- ODI
- 94
- 79
- 1752
- 79 vs. SA
- 30.20
- 73.24
- 0
- 0
- 9
- 176
- 15
- 64
- 7
-
- T20I
- 32
- 26
- 399
- 48 vs. WI
- 33.25
- 143.52
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 42
- 15
- 64
- 7
Dinesh Karthik – Key Skills and Strengths
Dinesh Karthik’s greatest asset is his game awareness. He skillfully builds his innings and can switch gears when needed. The evidence of his cool nerves was seen in the 2018 T20 Tri-series final where he hit 29 off just 8 balls against Bangladesh, including a last-ball six to lead India to a series victory. Karthik emerged at a time when international cricket was asking more from wicketkeepers. Adam Gilchrist was still at his prime and Indian selectors were eyeing someone who could assist them with the bat as well as with the gloves behind the wicket. Dhoni and Karthik emerged at the same time and both showed the ability to contribute with the bat.
Karthik is a vocal presence behind the stumps and his understanding of the game helps his team. He can be a vital influence while using the DRS system. He is an acrobatic wicketkeeper. His stumping of Michael Vaughan on debut caught the attention of the cricketing world.
Karthik is a good front-foot batter, who likes to build his innings. He starts his innings with singles and doubles and likes to play bigger strokes later on. However, coming down the batting order, the right-hand batter gets lesser chances of scoring centuries and half centuries.
Dinesh Karthik’s Captaincy Record
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- Format
- Matches
- Won
- Lost
- Tie
- NR
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- Indian T20 League
- 44
- 22
- 22
- 1
- 0
Dinesh Karthik’s Awards and Achievements
Karthik never got the chance to establish himself at the international scene, with Dhoni already there to fulfill the role of the wicketkeeper for the Indian cricket team. However, he never disappointed the fans or his team whenever he got the chance to play. Karthik was often given the task of playing as an outfielder. He did a decent job in that role too. As a lower-middle-order batter, Karthik has helped India come out of a number of tricky situations.
Here are some of Karthik’s records and achievements in international cricket:
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Karthik is the first-ever Indian player to have been adjudged the Man of the Match in a T20 International match, against South Africa in 2006.
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In the 2018 Nidahas Trophy final, Karthik played a match-winning innings, hitting a six off the final delivery of the match to help India win the series against Bangladesh.
Dinesh Karthik’s Indian T20 League Journey
Karthik is one of the few Indian cricketers to have played for as many as seven teams. He started his career in 2008 with the Delhi team and stayed with them for three years before moving to Punjab.
He has since played for the Mumbai team, the Bangalore team, the Gujarat team and then for the Kolkata team, for whom he played only recently. He will return to his former team Bangalore this year. He was given the responsibility of leading the Kolkata side but gave up the responsibility midway through the 2020 season.
Here are some of Karthik’s biggest achievements in the Indian T20 League:
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Karthik holds the record for having taken the second-highest number of catches behind the wicket (113) in the Indian T20 League, with just MS Dhoni ahead of him.
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Karthik is also placed second in terms of the most number of stumpings (31) in the history of the league.
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Karthik is placed 16th on the list of the Best Captain’s Innings, having scored 97 runs against the Rajasthan team in 2019.
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- Format
- M
- Runs
- HS
- Avg
- SR
- 100
- 50
- 4s
- 6s
- CT
- ST
-
- Indian T20 League
- 213
- 4046
- 97* vs. Rajasthan
- 25.77
- 129.72
- 0
- 19
- 399
- 112
- 123
- 32
Dinesh Karthik: FAQs
Karthik’s father was a former first-division cricketer, and he introduced Karthik to cricket. It was from his father that Karthik learned the basics of the game.
Karthik’s international ODI debut was made special when he stumped Michael Vaughan off Harbhajan Singh’s bowling. It earned Karthik fame because it showed his extreme athleticism.
Karthik started doing commentary with the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand.
Dinesh Karthik participated in the dance reality show named Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina.
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