An on and off career, dotted with milestones

In that earlier era of Indian cricket (in the year 2004) specialists were gradually being identified for being exclusively groomed for different formats of the game. Hence, it was also not very surprising to see a few players settling down to showcase their talent in ODIs alone, with very few real chances provided to them to break into the longer format of the game.

Dinesh Karthik, 37, who was handed over the 250th test player cap for India was one such example. He made his test match debut in November 2004 while he had already played his first match for the country two months earlier in the ODI format. DK as he is popularly known played 26 tests in the years 2004 to 2018, scoring 1025 runs at an average of 25, with a century and seven 50's to his credit. His last test was against England in August 2018, at Lord's which India lost by an innings and 159 runs. Karthik himself had scores of 1&0 in that match which would not be a memorable one for him.

As a player, Dinesh was on and off in the test cricket format owing to the fact that MS Dhoni's impressive performances as a wicketkeeper were seemingly blanking his chances. A critical appraisal of his career made by the pundits has also found him wanting in his core skill, even though he was considered a livewire and a quick-reflex cricketer. The irony was that his athletic skills did not often help him to perform well behind the stumps, is what the pundits of the game point out. Of course, he had the satisfaction of being given the job in his first test match as a wicketkeeper as Parthiv Patel, yet another mixed skill cricketer was not up to the mark with his job.

An analysis of his test cricket highlights gives an interesting tidbit. His only century was against Bangladesh in 2007 when he scored 129 against the eastern neighbour. That was also his best year in Test cricket, as he played nine matches, amassed 686 runs at a healthy average of 42.87. It had taken 10 years for Indian test team to move from the 200th to the 250th Test player, in which it played 92 test matches (1994-2004). The track record is not flattering as it won 28, lost 34 and drew 30 of them.

Karthik , however, will also not be easily forgotten by the excitable fans of Bangladesh for his heroics during the Hero Nidahas Trophy final in 2018 when he overcame a stiff target of 34 runs in 12 balls to win the T 20 game for India.

With a personal life marked with dysfunctional relationships, his marriage with Dipika Pallikal in 2015 seems to have worked well for him and he has had a notable career in the Indian Premier League where he has been picked for substantial sums. Karthik is now a test match commentator who was seen during the India-Australia home series speaking about the game along with Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Matthew Hayden, Murali Karthik and the likes.

(Next: India's 300th Test player: T Natarajan)