A professional Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has been a valuable asset to the team. Before Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s arrival on cricket fields, Dinesh Karthik dominated as a wicketkeeper. He has performed admirably with the bat as well as behind the stumps.
Personal background:-
His full name is Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik. His birthday falls on 1 June 1985. In the year 2007, Karthik got married to Nikita Vanjara, but then, due to incompatibilities and dysfunctionalities, they decided to take it off and eventually got divorced. After a few years, he got engaged to an eminent Indian squash player Dipika Pallikal, and they are now successfully happy together.
His cricket journey in international cricket India:
He emerged out in the Ganguly era of Indian cricket as a boon for the country. Not only in wicketkeeping but also in batting, he has shown his remarkable skillset, which is unbeaten. Though he had a rough career along the way, staying in and out for frequent periods, he still had not forgotten his dedication to the team at any moment and showed his level best on the pitch.
2004 became a particular year for him since he created his debut that year quite impressively and started his cricket journey. Owing to him, India won its first-ever series against England on a Test tour. After that he became the leading scorer. He made his T20 match debut in the year 2006 against South Africa. Karthik was behind the stumps as India set a world record for the most extras conceded in a Test inning; In the month of September in 2007, there was a breakthrough for him when he had to be removed from the Indian test team.
Talking about his batting skills, whatever appreciation be made, it would still be less for his hard work. In the 2008–2009 season, Karthik amassed more than 1000 first-class, scoring five hundred runs, including a 213, while leading Tamil Nadu to the semifinals. It was the four-match ODI series against West Indies when he was given his first “Man of the Match” award.
Though handled finely in matches, his wicketkeeping still needed a lot of enhancement.
So he joined a specialized wicketkeeping training camp which was functioning under the eminent Indian keeper Kiran in the off-season. There he analyzed his mistakes, worked over them, and overcame his shortcomings. Somewhere due to his little flaws, he might have opened room on the periphery of other keeper-batsmen.
As every human being, he has his downs in his career; though he was quite renowned in domestic cricket but his international journey of cricket never really hit the peaks. Earlier, when he was building his name in the history, the Indian cricket team introduced MS Dhoni behind the stumps. There was little Karthik could do. Karthik’s prospects were slim because the squad already had an established opening combination, and Dhoni was a permanent member. However, Karthik remained a titan in domestic cricket and had a talent for showing up on wavy surfaces. He benefited enormously from his propensity to sweep, reverse sweep, and gallop down the track against spinners. His fast feet have occasionally let him down behind the stumps, frequently at vital moments. In 2014, he was invited back to the Indian team for a tour of Bangladesh; however, his wicketkeeping missed the mark.
On the date 18th of March 2018, Karthik appeared in his last T20I match versus Bangladesh and was honored with the “Man of the match” title for his extraordinary batting performance. He stroked 29 runs in just eight balls in the limited-overs of the match with a six, at last, making it a spectacular game of the year. Even under so much pressure, he did not let his guard down and pulled the victory from the opponent’s hands.
His IPL journey has been good, though. Recently he was the captain of the team Kolkata Knight Riders. Initially, he played in Delhi Daredevils as a wicketkeeper. He had a strike rate of 135.5 then. In 2011, he was taken under Kings XI Punjab and became the second most expensive player in the squad. Due to his impressive performances, Royal Challengers Bangalore took Dinesh in his team in the year 2022. Dinesh Karthik’s 2.0 performance has caused fans and veteran cricket players to speculate about his hopes of playing in the T20 World Cup, which will be held in Australia in October.
Achievements and records:-
He made a lot of accomplishments in his name throughout the whole journey. Some of them are listed below:-
- By completing a total of 300 matches in the T20 format, he has become the 4th cricketer to do so.
- He holds a brilliant record of hitting more than 19 thousand runs in almost all forms of cricket matches.
- Karthik was the man behind the stumps when India created a world record for the most extras conceded in a Test innings.
He nationally goes for the Indian cricket team and is currently the captain of team Tamil Nadu when speaking domestically. When he shifted to the United Kingdom to do commentary, everybody imagined that the Tamil Nadu veteran would never return. But here he is with an astonishing comeback for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic tournaments. Thereby, Dinesh amassed 376 runs in 8 matches in the whole game, striking an impressive hundred in the final. He occasionally worked as a commentator for the British sports channel “Sky Sports” during the India’s England tour.
Dinesh’s s career life has not been easy. Even after facing a lot of hardships he stayed on the grounds with his head high, holding optimism in his eyes for winning. Many players start losing hope whenever they fall into any crisis, whether small or big. But Dinesh never ever left the pitch and kept on improving his skills until they got to his level best. This is the true mark of a consistent sportsman. India has seen every kind of player, and each one of them does not come as a perfect one. They work hard, tackle any upcoming obstacle, and thus pave their way themselves. These kinds of players are what is needed in a team who would be ready to face anything that comes their way.
