India experimented with a number of different wicketkeepers during the Ganguly era of Indian cricket, before settling on Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Among them was Dinesh Karthik. He has struggled to maintain a consistent spot in the Indian squad, but when given the chance, he has shown great skill with the bat and behind the wickets.
In the 2002–03 season, following a streak of hundreds for the Tamil Nadu Under-19 team, Karthik began to enter the selectors’ shortlist, having progressed through the ranks in age-group cricket. Run production dropped down at the end of the season, but he was given a second chance by the selectors and called up to the national team when Parthiv Patel was dropped for shaky glove work.
After making his One-Day International (ODI) debut for India in late 2004, when he was only 19 years old, Karthik quickly rose to prominence. Modern Indian cricket fans will never forget the fuzzy picture of Karthik leaping horizontally through the air to stump Michael Vaughan at Lord’s.
DK had found his form again for IPL 2022, and he was the talk of the town amongst fans and critics alike. Despite the widespread acclaim for Dinesh Karthik, an old quote of hiM regarding the Chennai Super Kings is doing the rounds on the internet.
One of the most successful teams in IPL history, Chennai Super Kings, was off to a terrible start this season. They are ranked dead last. Only two of CSK’s first seven games had ended in a victory.
According to a number of critics and diehards, the Chennai franchise no longer has the same intensity as it once had. It had been speculated that MS Dhoni would retire from the IPL in the next year or two, prompting many to argue that CSK should have included Dinesh Karthik in their roster during the IPL 2022 mega-auction.
While all is going on, an old remark from the RCB star has emerged online in which Karthik expresses his desire to play for Chennai Super Kings. He said:
“In 2008, I was in Australia, in the lead up to the auctions, Dinesh Karthik the person, was convinced that he was the biggest name from Tamil Nadu cricket to have played for the country. For sure, they (CSK) are going to pick me. I thought that they would pick me up later. It’s been 13 years and I am still waiting for that elusive call from CSK,”
It was at that time that Chennai decided to get MS Dhoni instead of DK. Karthik joined the Delhi Daredevils, and DK has since played for many teams besides CSK.