Time is running out for Dinesh Karthik to prove his consistency. (Source: Express Archive)
THERE ARE two wicket-keepers in India’s squad for Sri Lanka. They are two generations apart with nearly a dozen years between them. One is the guy who MS Dhoni replaced some 14 years go as India’s premier ‘keeper and never let go. The other is the boy who everyone in India believed was well on track to replace Dhoni around this time last year. But he’s yet to come anywhere close to doing that. And Dhoni is yet to let go, and doesn’t seem to be in a tearing hurry to do so either.
As a result, for all purposes, Dinesh Karthik, at 32, and Rishabh Pant, at 20, will over the next two weeks at best be competing to become his deputy for at least another 15 months or so. It’ll if anything be the only real gain for India as they return to Colombo yet again, this time for the tri-nation T20 series featuring Bangladesh.
The only reason they are together is after Dhoni asked for rest after a hectic limited-overs series in South Africa. It’s after all been made rather obvious that the Dhoni isn’t going anywhere in 50-over cricket before next year’s World Cup in England. And as far as the debate over whether Dhoni needs to be persisted with in the T20 format, considering the next major event in the shortest format at a global level isn’t for another two years, was more or less dealt with by chairman of selectors MSK Prasad in December. “We are grooming some new wicket-keepers in India A tours. Let me tell you frankly that still those boys are not up to the levels that we have expected,” he’d said.
Now Karthik isn’t one of those “boys”. He’s been around for far too long. He’s been India’s SOS man for far too long. He made his ODI debut as an 19-year-old three months before Dhoni did back in 2004. But he’s played only one fourth of matches that India’s most successful wicket-keeper, all of 318, has managed in that span. For most periods in his lengthy vigil as an India cricketer, Karthik has played the role of being the best fall-back option available.
That says a lot about both the lack of wicket-taking talent that’s come along in that period as well as his ability to stay relevant despite spending such a long time on the fringes. The only competition he’s ever faced to his position has come from Parthiv Patel but that’s been more in the longer format. As far as the shorter formats go, Karthik has if anything spent almost his entire 20s and the first few years of his 30s as the man India have looked to somehow fit in even when Dhoni is still in the XI, either as a No.4 steadier or a late-order finisher.
Karthik’s IPL stocks have always been of a high value. He’s been among the costliest buys in almost every auction and was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 7.4 crore earlier this year, and subsequently made captain.
Pant was one of the three players retained by Delhi Daredevils for IPL XI. Around this time last year, he was on an ultimate high, having scored a sensational Ranji triple-century. When he was picked in the squad for the T20s against England in January last year, many looked at it as the selectors sending a strong message to Dhoni that an heir had been identified. He seemed the perfect like for like replacement too, a hard-hitting batsman who seemed to have the nerveless steel to deal with difficult scenarios in the shorter formats.
But Pant wasn’t given much of a chance in West Indies, getting a solitary T20 in Jamaica. Some hinted his fitness being a major cause of concern. He returned to domestic cricket and was in-charge of Delhi as they entered the Ranji Trophy final. His batting, however, never quite got going and he managed a single half-century score. He made up for it with four consecutive half-centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali and a 32-ball century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Himachal Pradesh.
That’s one big tick for both—the ability to play as specialist batsmen. Karthik has done it already on several occasions, and Pant wouldn’t mind getting a shot in the top-order either with Virat Kohli sitting out. And there could well be the likelihood of Karthik and Pant being included in the playing XI regularly and not just for a match or two during the Nidahas Trophy.
Age is of course on Pant’s side but Karthik despite having been around for so long isn’t yet in the senior citizen category as far as Indian cricket is concerned.
“Every opportunity I get is important for me, every tour is important. At this point of time is to just go out there and do the best I can with whatever opportunities I get,” is how Karthik puts it. The same holds true for Pant as well, at least till Dhoni doesn’t decide to let go.
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