The new and improved version of Dinesh Karthik has announced its arrival with two back-to-back centuries in the warm-up matches ahead of Champions Trophy. Amit Chaudhary takes a look
Something has definitely changed in Dinesh Karthik. Though it is difficult to spot the change for an untrained eye, his performance — back-to-back centuries in two Champions Trophy warm-up games in England — has certainly caught attention.
The day he turned 28, Karthik scored an unbeaten 106 against Sri lanka in the first warm-up game in Edgbaston to make the chase of 334 possible after the Indian top-order had misfired. Then, three days later in the second warm-up game, Karthik played a glorious innings of 146 not out off 140 balls, rescuing India from a miserable position of 39/4. He not only saved Team India the humiliation of getting out for less than 100, but also helped the team post over 300 runs on board.
These runs came on the back of a strong domestic season where he scored 577 runs at an average of 64.11 in Ranji Trophy, 436 runs at 87.20 with one century and four half centuries in five innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and 301 runs at 100.33, including 176 not out, in the Corporate Trophy.
His golden run continued in this year’s IPl too, as Karthik scored 510 runs in 19 matches. The figure was almost double in comparison to any of the earlier IPl editions. His previous highest was 288 runs from 13 innings in the 2009 season. After moving to Mumbai Indians from Kings XI Punjab in 2012, Karthik scored just 238 runs from 14 innings at a strike-rate of 111.73 and an average of 18.30.
This metamorphosis hasn’t come overnight. Karthik has earned it with sheer hard work that he has put in with Prasanna Agoram, who works with the South African team as performance analyst. While working with Karthik, Agoram found a few technical glitches in his batting and one of them was balance.
He had all the shots in his repertoire. He had the confidence and temperament to play them. But he was doing it without the required balance. He was playing his shots without a solid base. He was always on the run. His hands and eyes were following the ball but his body was lagging behind. He was wasting those precious micro-seconds that could give him an edge over the bowler.
Once the flaws are found, it is not difficult to rectify them, especially when one is as dedicated as Karthik. The two worked relentlessly to correct the problem. After months of hard work and with improved balance, Karthik has become more consistent in his scores.
Now, he has time to go back and pull or hook short-pitched stuff bowled at his body. He can lean on his front foot and drive through the covers. He can rock back and cut ball. Basically he can do all the things that he was doing earlier but with a firm base.
The only thing that he needed was an opportunity to justify his talent and the people who have believed in him since the day he debuted for Tamil Nadu as a teenager. And it wasn’t very far after his good showing in the domestic tournaments and IPl.
For selectors, it wasn’t difficult to pick Karthik since there was not any better option available for the middle-order. Yuvraj Singh wasn’t giving clear signs about his form and fitness. Rohit Sharma has always been patchy. And, Irfan Pathan hasn’t done anything worthwhile to instill any confidence in his allround abilities.
Since the retirement of Indian stalwarts, the pressure to keep the ship sailing during the middle overs has been on Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. With all these players being aggressive in their batting style, the middle-order required a calm head, who could switch gears as per the situation. Karthik was the best option, which he proved later.
If his two centuries are dissected into pieces, it is easy to understand how carefully he built those innings. Mindful of team’s position, he played watchfully initially and then didn’t shy from taking over the role of an aggressor.
His ability to keep the score board ticking without hitting boundaries makes him special. During the 211-run partnership that he put up with Dhoni against Australia, the duo collected 94 runs in singles, doubles and triples. Similarly, against Sri lanka, he ran 91 runs with Kohli during their 186-run association.
“He’s someone who can bat really, really well in the middle of the order. The reason being he’s a good runner. He reads the situation pretty well, and he’s someone who can look to go on and play big innings, and that is what is really important in the middle order. He’s technically sound, which means he has all the right talent to get going, and once he gets going, he’s someone who keeps himself busy throughout the innings,” Dhoni said highlighting the big change in Karthik.
With the World Cup is less than 20 months away, Karthik’s coming of age also augurs well for the World Champions considering the need to identify the probables as quickly as possible. That was, perhaps, the one reason Dhoni pointed out that he would like Karthik to bat anywhere between No. 3 and not deeper than No. 5 because, then, the team would not extract the maximum out of him.
“I’ve always stressed that the players need to bat in a specialist position where they really suit themselves and the team. In the past we have played a few players on different slots, more according to the fact that we said they’ll do well but that was not the route or original slot. I think it’s the same for DK also. He’s someone that should bat at 4 or 5, 3 also, but definitely not someone who should bat at 6 or 7,” Dhoni said.
Karthik’s natural composure and temperament has beautifully blended with a newly-found balance to give his career a new lease of life. Hopefully, Dinesh Karthik version 2.0 will not let go off this opportunity like the previous one.