Dinesh Karthik eyeing return to white-ball cricket
Indian middle-order batsman Dinesh Karthik is aiming for a comeback in the white-ball setup with the T20 World Cup less than a year away and has requested the TNCA to select him only for important Ranji Trophy matches. Karthik has not played for India since their semifinal loss against New Zealand.
Dinesh Karthik has consistently performed for the Indian team over the past five years whenever he was given a chance and after having a good CHampions Trophy in 2013, he was a certain started at number four in the Indian batting order. But inconsistency in batting and Indian team management's merry-go-round for the number four spot deprived him of a long rope of chances. After India's semifinal defeat to the Black Caps in the World Cup, the selectors have started focusing more on the youth and thus the 34-year-old has not been a part of any white-ball squad ever since.
Karthik has been a prolific run-scorer for Tamil Nadu and has led his team to success in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He is also a seasoned campaigner as far as first-class cricket is concerned with 9376 runs at an average just above 40. He has promised to be there for the Tamil Nadu team on challenging pitches and in important Ranji Trophy games but he wants to concentrate more on white-ball cricket because he feels that the chances of him making a Test comeback are very slim.
An injury to Wriddhiman Saha had given Dinesh Karthik the opportunity to be India's first-choice keeper in Tests but he failed miserably with the bat in England and was dropped mid-series and replaced by young Rishabh Pant. In 26 Test matches, he averages only 25 which is very low for a batsman of his caliber. On the other hand, his white-ball numbers are encouraging with an average of 30.20 and 33.25 in ODIs and T20Is respectively. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he has shown great finishing ability which provides a strong case for a comeback into the Indian team. With age not on his side, the 34-year-old will be hoping to make a last-ditch erffort to play in the blue jersey again.
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