One of the wicketkeepers who made his debut between 2000 to 2005, Dinesh Karthik was often in and out of the national side. Courtesy of MS Dhoni’s success and leadership qualities, the former India captain became a permanent member of the team and played international cricket for 15 years.
Even though Karthik made his comeback even in Dhoni’s presence, he played as a specialist batsman as Dhoni was the permanent behind the stumps. During a conversation with Aakash Chopra on his Youtube channel, Karthik lauded Dhoni as a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer. The 36-year-old added that that the door was closed after Dhoni’s arrival.
“When Dhoni came in, he took the complete country by storm and I knew that door was closed. Keeper-batsman is always a decade-long job. Syed Kirmani was there, then Kiran More. Dhoni was a once-in-a-generation kind of a cricketer,” he said.
Like Dhoni, Karthik also made his India debut in 2004 and was also part of the playing XI in India’s first-ever T20I, in 2006. A member of both the World Cup squads in 2007, Karthik was an irregular member of the team and continued to make comebacks in Test and ODI teams.
His last run with Team India came between 2017 to 2019. Karthik made his India comeback for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and remained a member of the team till the end of the 2019 World Cup. Karthik also returned to the Test team in 2018, after missing most matches by an Indian. He was dropped after the 2019 World Cup and is a part-time commentator now.
