Dinesh Karthik

Lore & Background

Karthik made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 2004. He was the 4th Indian batsman to play 300 T20 matches. Karthik was a member of the team that won both the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. Karthik is also the first Indian ever to win a Player of The Match award in a T20 International, having done so in 2006. Known for his six hitting ability, aggressive batting style, longevity and ability to finish games strong, Karthik was viewed as a crucial asset in the IPL and the India national cricket team for almost two decades. Karthik made his maiden Test century against Bangladesh and was India's leading scorer in their 2007 Test tour of England, helping India win their first series in England in 21 years. After a drop in form in September 2007, Karthik was dropped from the Test team and only made sporadic international appearances through 2022. Between 2018 and 2020, Karthik was the captain of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. He also occasionally worked as a commentator for British channel Sky Sports, most notably during India's 2021 tour of England.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at Arun Jaitley were just warming up, the floodlight hum a low electric drone that the crowd barely noticed. DK was in the middle of his pre-match ritual: tapping the helmet on the turf, adjusting the gloves, doing that little shoulder shrug that meant *I don't care what's coming*. A kid in the third tier, maybe ten years old, was holding a hand-painted sign that read DK IN, NO ONE OUT. The kid's mother was trying to get him to sit down. He would not sit down. The over came. DK clipped the first ball to the leg side, single. The kid screamed. The second ball was a slower one, and DK, with that particular look in his eyes, launched it over the long-on rope. The stadium exhaled and then roared. The kid's sign was now being waved by three other kids who had grabbed it. DK walked back to the pavilion, and for a moment, the whole stadium felt like it belonged to one small boy from Kozhikode who had decided Delhi was his city too.

Reader's Guide

Dinesh Karthik was born on 1 June 1985 at Chennai, India. He began playing cricket at the age of 10. He did his initial schooling at Carmel School and Fahaheel Al-Watanieh School in Kuwait and at Don Bosco School in Egmore from class eight. He was coached in cricket by his father, who was a first-division cricketer. His father encouraged him to take up cricket, after his career itself was cut short due to his educational commitments. Karthik honed his reflexes by having his father throw hard leather balls at him at high speed. He initially trained as a batsman and took to wicket-keeping later, when he represented the Tamil Nadu youth teams. Karthik made his Tamil Nadu under-14 debut in early 1999, and was promoted to the under-19 team at the beginning of the 2000/2001 season. He made his first-class debut for the senior team the following season.

Did You Know?

• Karthik made his Test cricket debut in the fourth Test between Australia and India in Mumbai in October 2004.
• He scored his maiden Test century against Bangladesh in December 2004.
• Karthik was India's leading scorer in the 2007 Test tour of England, with 263 runs at 43.83.
• He was the captain of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders between 2018 and 2020.