IPL 2021: KKR’s batting mainstay Dinesh Karthik blames MS Dhoni for closing his avenues in Indian cricket: Indian cricketer and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batting mainstay Dinesh Karthik opened up on his journey as an international cricketer. Karthik names MS Dhoni as the real culprit who nearly ate up his well-deserved position as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
“When Dhoni came, he had taken the entire cricketing world by storm with his performance. I knew that now the doors of the team were closed for me as a wicket-keeper batsman. After many decades we got a good wicketkeeper. Look at Ian Healy or Adam Gilchrist, if you’re a good keeper, you’ll be a part of the team for 10-12 years,” said Karthik on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel.
IPL 2021: The right-handed batsman has still not retired from International cricket but has taken to the commentary stint in his career. Started his commentary guise in the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in Southampton, Karthik is currently serving as a commentator with Sky Sports for ongoing India vs England Test series held overseas.
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The 36-year-old, with due credit, acknowledged MS Dhoni for the latter pumped Karthik to grab the position in the Indian team that was vacant then. Karthik, who doesn’t reflect much on his past took a moment to appreciate MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid, who in Karthik’s words were pivotal in accelerating his confidence as a batsman.
I never pay attention to my things. My nature has always been like this. What will happen next? This has always been a frequent question to myself. At that time I wanted to be a strong batsman. Two places were vacant in the team in the form of middle order and opener. One thing that other people, including Dhoni, told me – ‘You are so talented as a batsman. You can do the opening. This gave me a lot of confidence and then Rahul Dravid also said that you have the skill to be a pure batsman. So I went into domestic cricket, scored a lot of runs, then got a chance as an opener and did well.”
Dinesh Karthik’s journey in IPL
The right-handed batsman has been a face of many franchises Punjab Kings (Kings XI Punjab then), Mumbai Indians (MI), Delhi Capitals (Delhi Daredevils then), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Gujarat Lions (GL) and KKR.
He has been a part of KKR since 2018 and gave up the captaincy midway in the 2020 IPL season. He even featured in Phase 1 of IPL 2021.
IPL 2021: KKR’s batting mainstay Dinesh Karthik blames MS Dhoni for closing his avenues in Indian cricket
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