Introduction
The final match of the Nidahas
Trophy 2018 between Bangladesh & India took me back a couple of years down
the memory lane. The year was 2016, and India was playing Bangladesh in a rain
curtailed Asia Cup Final at Dhaka. India needed 19 to win off the final two
overs, when MSD came out to bat. He smashed Al Amin Hossain, the rookie
Bangladeshi pacer, to all corners of the park and finished off the game with 7
balls remaining. While the Nidahas trophy final was definitely more dramatic
and close and exhilarating than the Asia Cup final, the reason why I talk about
that match from 6th March 2016, is because of one line from Mr.
Harsha Bhogle on live commentary after Dhoni (as clichéd it may sound) finished
the game off with his winning shot. Bhogle on air said “Dhoni came out to bat
and said ‘Right gentlemen, you all have been playing this game for a while. Let
me come over and finish it off for all of you’”. If there was any match
situation, where the reiteration of this statement from Mr. Bhogle would have
been apposite, it had to be for Mr. Dinesh Karthik in the Nidahas Trophy final,
2018.
When Karthik became ‘Karthikeyan’
When Dinesh Karthik took strike
to Rubel Hossain, in the 19th over of the Indian innings, even the
most ultra-optimistic Indian fan would not have hoped for an Indian win. The
best bowler for Bangladesh, in a bid to rattle Karthik first up, tried to bowl
a toe-crushing yorker to the right-hander. The length and line was absolute
spot on, just that Karthik converted it into a juicy full toss by standing 6
inches outside the popping crease and lofted the pacer, straight over his head
for a six, with a copybook extension of a straight drive. What followed in the
next two overs was absolute demolition, with Karthik scoring 29 off 8
deliveries to decimate Bangladesh’s hopes of winning their first major
cricketing tournament. The shear momentum of Karthik’s innings reminded us of
another famous Indian hailing from the same state as Karthik (Tamil Nadu), the
first Indian F1 driver, Mr. Narain Karthikeyan. The comparison is justified enough
in the sense that it just seemed when Bangladesh was cruising towards victory,
a man called Dinesh Karthik came along in his F1 car at a speed of 362.5 kmph
(read strike rate of 362.5) and snatched victory single-handedly from the grasp
of Bangladesh.
Dinesh Karthik’s future in the Indian Team
Dinesh Karthik, inspite of
playing maybe the greatest cameo in T20 international history ever, is still
standing on thin ice, as far as the 2019 World Cup team is considered. Once,
all the emotions settle down around this 8-ball blitz from Karthik, even the
Indian team management will have to address this. Let us try to analyse the
reason behind this claim.
The Indian team management has
been primarily using Karthik as a finisher in this tournament. Now let us look
at what his role will be in the team once, the Indian team comes back to its
full strength. The top 3 of course looks assured and secure with Dhawan, Rohit
and Kohli at the top. Dhoni slots in at 5 and Hardik Pandya slots in at 7. That
leaves two spots up for the grabs- No. 4 and No 6. Suresh Raina, with his part
time off spinners nudges ahead of Karthik at No. 6. With Raina, you get 6-7
overs regularly in an ODI or maybe the full quota of 10 overs in the odd game,
whereas Karthik at best will be a backup keeper, if Dhoni injures himself
(unlikely). It is a no brainer that Raina fits the much iterated ‘utility
player’ version better than Karthik and hence, he is a sure starter at No. 6
for India. Therefore, the only option for Dinesh to feature in the first 11 is
to bat at No. 4- a position where the Indian team management has not really
used Karthik in the Nidahas Trophy. In addition to that, Karthik needs to
compete with the likes of Rahane and Manish Pandey for the No. 4 spot, both of
whom have quite a few successful innings at the No. 4 position itself. Hence,
amidst all the euphoria regarding Karthik’s match winning innings, Karthik
himself knows that the road forward won’t surely be a bed of roses for him.
Conclusion
The biggest IPL in Karthik’s
entire 14 year long career will be IPL 11. He will be leading KKR and my intuition
says he will be batting at No. 4, for the Kolkata based franchise. If he can
put up a stupendous performance in the IPL, he may well overtake Rahane and
Pandey, in the race for the No. 4 position, at WC 2019 in England.
Even if Karthick does manage to put up a great show at IPL what the selectors will bear in mind is the dependability that the likes of Rahane brings into the 11, esp. on an overseas tour such as England or Australia.
ReplyDeleteWell Sourav, I won't completely disagree with you. But the issue with Rahane is his inability to play quality spin. With the advent of wrist spinners in limited overs circuit being the order of the day, it will be very tough for Rahane to sustain his No. 4 spot in the 2019 world cup. That is where I feel DK may win over the spot from Rahane at 4.
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