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‘Have some faith in Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma’: Ex-India cricketer to Dinesh Karthik's critics
Former India cricketer Maninder Singh feels one needs to back the thought process India head coach Rahul Dravid, captain Rohit Sharma and the selectors have for Dinesh Karthik.
In the four-five media interactions that Dinesh Karthik has had ever since making a comeback to the Indian T20I side in the South Africa series in June this year, he has talked about the backing from head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma multiple times in each one of them. This is not to say his previous captains, which include Sourav Ganguly, Dravid himself, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli, didn't back him but never ever in his multiple stints with Team India in different formats did he have a role so definite, so precise. Karthik's job of batting only the last five or six overs (at best) of the innings in the current Indian T20I side is interesting, to say the least and one-of-a-kind even for the fast-paced ever-changing dynamic format of T20 not only in Indian cricket but also in the world.
When was the last time a cricketer was considered to be a 'certainty' in the XI for only batting the last five overs of the innings in a top side like India who probably have the luxury of playing a tri-nation series with three of its own teams with each of them being a favourite to win the title? While you search for answers, let us throw more factors to make your already tough job tougher. Karthik is not India's first-choice keeper, Rishabh Pant has cemented his place in that role across formats. In his close to two-decade-long career, he has never bowled in international cricket and has bowled only two overs in the 360 T20 matches he has ever played. The mention of these seemingly unwanted stats is to further establish that Karthik can't contribute in any other way - considering his age, he is as swift in the field as he was five-six years ago. It's only with the willow that he can help India defend the Asia Cup title or attempt to win the T20 World Cup for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2007.
Karthik's role of providing the finishing touches is therefore quite similar to a patisserie chef only making the icing. He found a lot of success doing exactly that for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022 and to be fair to him, has done reasonably well even for India in the 13 times that he has got an opportunity to bat. But the Indian team management's advertisement of Karthik is only going to come out after the 15th over - only once since his come has he batted before the 15th over started - has not gone too well with some noted former cricketers. Some have even gone on to state that he is 'blocking' a spot. Former India spinner Maninder Singh, however, is not one of them.
The former left-arm spinner, who is one of the broadcasters for the upcoming Zimbabwe ODI series, of which Karthik is not a part, feels one needs to back the thought process of the Indian team management and the selectors.
"This is a new experiment that we are doing and there's nothing wrong in doing some experiments before you go into the World Cup. If it succeeds then everybody's gonna start saying 'what a wonderful job done'," Singh told Hindustan Times in a select-media interaction organised by Sony Sports Network.
"Even though the kind of form Dinesh Karthik is in like we've seen in even in the IPL, you could give him some more overs, there's no doubt about it but then every coach comes with a different plan, every captain comes with a different plan. I feel we need back our coach and captain and our selectors as well. They are trying these things, if it doesn't work out, then you can always go back but you've got to keep on trying. But like I said, I would love to see him bat for more overs but if this is what Rahul Dravid, his captain and the selectors have decided, I think let's back them," he added.
