Dinesh Karthik Biography

This blog is about Dinesh Karthik
Biography
Full name     Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik (KKDK)
Born     1 June 1985 (age 26)
Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India
Batting style     Right-handed
Bowling style     Right arm-off break
Role     Wicket-keeper-Batsman
International information
National side     India
Test debut (cap 250)     3 November 2004 v Australia
Last Test     17 January 2010 v Bangladesh
ODI debut (cap 156)     5 September 2004 v England
Last ODI     5 June 2010 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
Years     Team
2002/03–present     Tamil Nadu
2008/2010     Delhi Daredevils
2011–present     Kings XI Punjab
Career statistics
Competition     Tests     ODIs     FC     List A
Matches     23     45     79     107
Runs scored     1,000     869     4,660     2,370
Batting average     27.77     28.96     39.15     30.00
100s/50s     1/7     0/4     13/23     2/12
Top score     129     79     213     117*
Balls bowled     –     –     114     –
Wickets     –     –     0     –
Bowling average     –     –     –     –
5 wickets in innings     –     –     0     –
10 wickets in match     –     –     0     –
Best bowling     –     –     0/9     –
Catches/stumpings     51/5     27/5     215/19     92/21
Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik (KKDK), About this sound pronunciation (help·info)) (born 1 June 1985 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India) is a wicketkeeper-batsman who has made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 2004 and has been a regular member of the team for varying periods since then, including a stint in 2007 as a specialist opening batsman and non-wicket-keeper. Karthik was a batsman in his junior career, but turned to wicket-keeping in order to improve his future prospects. Throughout his career, Karthik has been criticized for unreliable glove-work symptomatic of a non-specialist wicket-keeper.[citation needed]

Rising through the junior ranks, Karthik made his first-class debut in late-2002 for Tamil Nadu as a 17-year-old, and was dropped in his first season despite his healthy run-scoring because of his problematic glovework. He fought his way back into the team and after playing for India at the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, made his ODI and Test cricket debut in late-2004. This came after India had struggled to find a reliable glove-work in the past few years.

Karthik was the regular wicket-keeper in Tests, making rare appearances in ODIs. During this period, Karthik struggled and averaged less than 20 with the bat, and he was replaced as Test wicketkeeper by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who had been prolific and destructive with the bat in ODIs, in late-2005. After donning the mantle of an opener for Tamil Nadu and raising himself to the standard of a specialist batsman at domestic level, he was recalled to the national squad as a batsman in late-2006 after injuries and form slumps hit other batsmen, playing occasional matches in both forms of cricket on the tour to South Africa, and scoring a helf-century in a Test as an opener. Following India's elimination from the first round of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the selectors made multiple changes, and Karthik became a non-wicket-keeping opening batsman in the Test team and regularly played ODIs, batting in the middle order.

He made his maiden Test century against Bangladesh and then was India's leading scorer in the Test tour of England, helping India to win their first series in England in 21 years. However, Karthik suffered a form slump in late-2007 and was dropped from the Test team, and since then has only made sporadic international appearances, although he continues to score heavily in domestic cricket. These have come in occasional appearances as a specialist batsman when other players were rested or injured, or as a wicket-keeper when Dhoni was sidelined. Karthik's glove-work for India continues to be criticized.
Early years

Karthik began playing cricket at the age of ten, after a two year stint living in Kuwait, where his father Krishna Kumar worked. Karthik was taught by his father, a first-division cricketer from Chennai. Disappointed that his own career was hindered when he was forced by his family to put his education first, Karthik's father did not want his son to suffer the same way, and trained him hard from an early age.Karthik honed his reflexes at this young age by having his father throw hard leather balls at him at high speed. Initially he played in the youth teams for Tamil Nadu as a batsman who was learning to keep wicket, and was regarded by Robin Singh as having very high levels of fitness.

Karthik steadily ascended the youth ranks. He made his debut for Tamil Nadu Under-14s in early-1999, and after scoring 78 and 26 in his two interstate matches, was promoted to the Under-16 team in November, still less than 14 and half years old.After spending the entire 1999–2000 season in the Under-16s, he was promoted to the Under-19 team at the start of the 2000–01 season, aged 15 years and 3 months, despite scoring only 52 runs at 10.40 at Under-16 level and still being eligible for that age group.The selectors’ decision did not result in increased productivity from Karthik; he scored 133 runs at 22.16 in seven innings with a top-score of 39, and was demoted back to the Under-16s in November, and responded immediately with 124 in his first innings against Karnataka. He added two further fifties in the season, including a 99 against Kerala. Karthik ended with 367 runs at 52.42 for the season.

Karthik regained his position in the Under-19 team at the start of the following season, which he opened with 150 against Goa. After scoring 314 runs at 46.42 in eight matches, he was promoted to the Under-22 team and made 78 runs at 39.00 in five matches. Karthik was rewarded with selection for South Zone, which represents the country’s south, in the Under-19 zonal competition. He was not a success with the bat, scoring 0, 1 and 2 in his 3 innings.In April 2002, Karthik was selected to play against the touring Australian Cricket Academy, and scored 125 in the second of two matches.

At the start of the rest of the 2002–03 season, Karthik began to make an imposing case for senior selection. In his opening match of the season for the Tamil Nadu Under-19s, he scored 227 in his team’s 392/7 against Goa, and after making a duck in the first innings against Hyderabad, he hit 126 not out in the second innings. He then registered his third century in four innings, cracking 235 against Andhra Pradesh. His form tapered off and he only made 111 runs in his next six innings, but was nevertheless called up to the senior team to make his first-class debut.
Early international career
Karthik at fielding practice.
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.