In India’s first-ever Twenty20 International way back in December 2006, a young boy remained calm under pressure to deliver a last-over win against South Africa in Johannesburg. And he was declared Man of the Match as well.
It was at The Wanderers that Dinesh Karthik made his T20 debut. And, 16 years later, he continues to finish games with ease even in tense situations.
Among the 11 Indian players who made their T20I debuts in Johannesburg in 2006, only Karthik and MS Dhoni feature in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
On that night in South Africa, India needed nine runs in the final over. Karthik sent the first ball from Robin Peterson for a six and in the company of Suresh Raina, took the team home with one ball to spare.
Nidahas Trophy final heroics
Another memorable innings for India was when Karthik hit 29 not out off eight including a last-ball six against Bangladesh in 2018 to win the T20I Nidahas Trophy in Colombo.
Now, he is not on the BCCI selectors’ radar for the limited-overs formats with Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul the preferred wicketkeeper-batsmen.
But, the 36-year-old Karthik showing that he is far from being over.
The Tamil Nadu batsman is vastly experienced in T20s, and is only one of the six players to have played 200 or more IPL matches. So far, he has played 216 games representing six franchises (Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore).
“I am not done yet,” Karthik declared after successfully finishing a game for his team – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022.
For the third game in a row, Karthik had played the finisher’s role to perfection. His 23-ball 44 not out pulled RCB from the depths of 87/5 to victory in pursuit of 170 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday (April 5).
In the previous two games, Karthik, who was bought by RCB for Rs 5.50 crore, had scored a 7-ball 14 not out versus Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and 32 not out off 14 balls against Punjab Kings (PBKS).
‘I have a goal’
These three innings have earned Karthik high praise from current and former players and also fans. There are calls that he be picked for India T20I side again.
Karthik’s last T20I was in Bengaluru against Australia in February 2019. The same year, he played his last ODI for India, after the team exited from the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup in England. It has been more than three years and he is still hopeful of a comeback.
“It feels nice. I think I made a conscious effort to do justice to myself because I felt last year, I could’ve done a little better. The way I trained was a little different – hats off to the person I trained with.
“He put me through some things which was very important for me in life as well. I say that only because I was making a conscious effort to tell myself that I am not done yet. I have a goal and I want to achieve something and I tried my best in terms of preparation,” Karthik said after his match-winning knock against RR.
“I made a lot of conscious effort to play white-ball cricket, I don’t play four-day cricket anymore. The quantity of matches has been reduced. I have to play that much more matches as practice matches and scenarios. So, I try and do a lot more of that… going to grounds and a lot of people have been with me in this journey when I practice.
“Those are the hours that you put in with nobody is seeing and those are the most important hours. Because when it comes here, it’s great. The set-up is beautiful, you have a lot of people and they’re helping me a lot, but the real work is done in the lead-up to the tournament, which is what I’ll give a lot of credit to,” he added.
Commentator Karthik
In the leadup to the IPL, Karthik had no competitive matches under his belt. In fact, he was a commentator and swapping a microphone with a cricket bat has been very easy.
“The commentator DK can walk the talk… Well played,” tweeted former India batsman Wasim Jaffer while praising Karthik.
The commentator DK can walk the talk 😉 Well played @DineshKarthik #RRvRCB #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/s4Nq0IH2UV
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) April 5, 2022
RCB captain Faf du Plessis hailed Karthik as a “great asset” after his innings against RR. “To pull it out of nowhere, you need some great characters and DK is as great a character as you can get. His composure under pressure is amazing. He is really calm and such a great asset to us.”
The South African even went a step further and said Karthik is similar to Dhoni when it comes to finishing skills. Faf has closely seen Dhoni having played under his leadership at Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Bigger picture
“I see a lot of similarities to obviously so MS’s, who’s the best finisher in the game. From what I’ve seen from DK this year, is on that same level. I’ve played against DK for a long time, and he’s always been a very dangerous player,” du Plessis told RCB’s YouTube channel.
“But the side of him that I’m seeing now, his composure, his clarity, that he just knows what he’s going to do. That is a remarkable skill, not a lot of people in the world have that ability to stay calm when everything is going around you, and it’s noisy and it’s pressure, just to know this is what I’m going to do, this is how I’m going to do it. And it just looks in control the whole time, so at the moment he is as good as you can get from a finisher point of view,” he added.
After Bangalore defeated Kolkata, Faf had compared Karthik’s calm demeanour to Dhoni’s. “DK’s experience helped in the end…cool, calm. The runs weren’t really too far away. He’s probably as cool as MS Dhoni can get in the last five overs.”
Amid these admirations, Karthik will be focusing on the next game and more importantly the bigger picture – delivering an IPL trophy to RCB, and also winning back his place in India’s T20I side.
For Karthik and RCB, the job is not finished yet.
This is only the beginning, @DineshKarthik! ❤️
Many more special things to achieve! 🙌🏻#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #Mission2022 #RCB #ನಮ್ಮRCB pic.twitter.com/IeGb6j8TgM— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 7, 2022