Karthik vows to keep up momentum

Buoyed by his gritty 93, the teenage keeper-batsman vowed on Saturday to keep up his form with the bat to provide depth to the Indian tail.

Buoyed by his gritty 93 at the Eden Gardens, teenage wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik vowed on Saturday to keep up his form with the willow to provide depth to the Indian late order.

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"I'll definitely try to keep up the momentum," Karthik asserted at the post match press conference on the fourth day of the Indo-Pak Test.

Expressing satisfaction with his performance, Karthik acknowledged that he got good support from vice-captain Rahul Dravid in the middle.

"I got a lot of support from Dravid while batting with him," Karthik said.

Karthik and Dravid were involved in a 165 run stand for the fifth wicket to pull India to a position of strength in the morning after skipper Sourav Ganguly was cheaply dismissed while VVS Laxman had to retire hurt after being struck by a Mohammed Sami delivery.

The younster seemed in total awe of the manner in which Dravid batted on his way to scoring his second hundred of the match.

"It was a great knock," he said, sitting beside the right hander at the press meet.

Karthik said keeping wicket at the Eden was no mean task when quality spinners were bowling.

"It's difficult to keep up to (Anil) Kumble and Harbhajan (Singh) on this wicket. Some balls are keeping low. There is uneven bounce," he said.

The stumper, who made his Test debut against Australia in Mumbai last year, said that his parents had given him a lot of support.

"My mom travels with me on tour. She gives me lot of support. My father also travels with me," he said.

Karthik said though he had conceded four byes in the Pakistan second innings, he considered that a part and parcel of the game.