NEWS
Dinesh Karthik is in the Indian scheme of things for the last 15 years but never got his due. He wasn’t able to cement his spot in the Indian Cricket team. Even after several ups and downs in Karthik’s career, he has always been a talking point because of his ability to deliver in crunch situations.
Today, let’s explore the life journey in this detailed Dinesh Karthik biography.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik |
| Age | 33 years |
| Sport Category | Cricket |
| Date of Birth | 1 June 1985 |
| Hometown | Tiruchendur, Tamil Nadu |
| Height | 1.7 m |
| Spouse | Deepika Pallikal |
| Parent | Krishnakumar and Padma |
| ODI Debut | 5 September 2004 Vs England |
| Test Debut | 3 November 2004 Vs Australia |
| T 20 Debut | 1 December 2006 Vs South Africa |
Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik was born on 1st June 1985 in Tiruchendur, Tamil Nadu. Karthik’s father Krishna Kumar was himself a first division cricketer from Chennai but due to family circumstances worked in Kuwait. Karthik too lived along with his father for a couple of years there. His father was his first coach and used to throw hard leather balls at him at high speed to improve his reflexes.
Karthik made his debut for Tamil Nadu U-14 in 1999 and was soon promoted to Under 16s when he was only 14 years old. He was later promoted to the U-19 team. However, the decision wasn’t fruitful as he scored only 133 in seven innings.
He got back his U-19 position in style by slamming a 150 against Goa in the first match. Later he was selected to play for the South Zone but his scores of 0, 1 and 2 in three innings were very disappointing. In 2002-03, Karthik opened the season with 227 runs against Goa, then a 126 against Hyderabad and 235 against Andhra Pradesh.
Karthik made his first-class debut against Baroda in 2002 and top against Uttar Pradesh with 88* in his first season which helped Tamil Nadu win the match with a wicket in hand. He was a wicketkeeper who batted at no. 8 in the season. His keeping wasn’t upto the mark so he was dropped from the side in the final matches.
In his second season 2003-04, in the Ranji Trophy, he scored 438 runs with an average of 43.80 with two centuries. In the semifinals against Railways, he scored his maiden first-class century of 122. He followed it up with a century in the finals against Mumbai. However, Mumbai won the cup and Karthik also missed out for the South Zone’s matches in the Duleep Trophy.
In 2004 U-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh, his performances were again disappointing. He scored a 70 from 39 balls against Sri Lanka which helped India qualify for the Semifinals but they were knocked out by arch-rivals Pakistan.
Karthik is a veteran now in the domestic circuit and represents Tamil Nadu and the South Zone. In October 2018, he was also named the captain of the India A team for 2018-19 Deodhar Trophy.
Dinesh Karthik made his Test debut in 2004 at Mumbai in the fourth Test match against Australia. He scored a mere 14 in both the innings but was praised for his wicket keeping skills on a pitch that had variable bounce and spin in which 40 wickets fell in two days. This was a huge moment for a player who was dropped for his poor wicket keeping.
He managed to appear in some Test matches against England, South Africa and Bangladesh but in the ODI’s he was completely overlooked after the arrival of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In a test match against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens, he notched up a 166 run partnership with Rahul Dravid.
Dhoni replaced Karthik in the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka due to a string of poor performances. Sometimes, he even appeared as a specialist middle-order batsman or an opening batsman if anyone was injured but he was never able to cement his spot permanently.
As it is said ‘the fortune favours the brave’, Karthik was recalled in the Indian ODI team in the Champions Trophy 2013 as a specialist batsman. He batted at no.4 and India eventually won the ICC tournament defeating the hosts England in the finals.
His best innings, probably the recent best finish by an Indian batsman, has to be in the Nidahas Trophy final. Karthik played a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 29 off 8 balls against Bangladesh. Coming in to bat when India required 34 runs off the last two overs, with five needed off the last ball, he smashed a six, thus winning the match and the tournament for his team.
The IPL has to be credited for showcasing us a new version of Dinesh Karthik. He started with Delhi Daredevils and was then shifted to Kings XI Punjab but it was in 2012 that fate’s changed for Karthik. He was bought by Mumbai Indians for a whopping amount of Rs. 12.4 crores. In 2013, he ended up with 510 runs with the highest score of 86 and was in the top 10 scorers of the tournament.
In 2014, Karthik was bought again by Delhi Daredevils for an outstanding sum of Rs. 10.5 crores. In 2015, he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for 10.5 crores. Again in 2016, Karthik was bought by Gujarat Lions for Rs. 2.3 crores and was retained for the 2017 Indian Premier league.
Karthik was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs. 7.60 crore and appointed as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2018 IPL season replacing Gautam Gambhir.He led the team to the playoffs.
| Competition | Test | ODI | T20 | FC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | 26 | 91 | 32 | 163 |
| Runs Scored | 1025 | 1738 | 399 | 9376 |
| Batting average | 25.00 | 31.03 | 33.25 | 40.76 |
| 100s | 1 | – | – | 27 |
| 50s | 7 | 9 | – | 42 |
| Top Score | 129 | 79 | 48 | 213 |
| Catches | 57 | 61 | 14 | 385 |
| Stumpings | 6 | 7 | 5 | 44 |
Favourite Cricketers: Sachin Tendulkar, Ian Botham
Favourite Tennis Player: Roger Federer
Favourite Food: Butter Chicken
Favourite Actor: Rajnikanth, Surya, Dhanush
Favourite Musician: AR Rahman
Dinesh Karthik married his childhood friend Nikita Vanjara on 2nd May 2007 in a low-key private ceremony in Mumbai. The marriage broke apart in 2012 allegedly because of Nikita’s affair with opener Murali Vijay.
Karthik got married for the second time to Indian squash player Dipika Pallikal on 18 August 2015 in Chennai. The two first met back in 2008 at the Chennai marathon but became romantically involved after they met again in 2013 at Shankar Basu’s Maverick gym.
Dinesh Karthik’s net worth is around Rs. 33 crores according to finapp.co.in. The net worth of Dinesh Karthik has seen a hike of 32% over the past few years. Karthik’s annual income is around Rs. 4 crores. He also owns a house worth Rs. 6 crore and 3 luxury cars worth Rs. 2 crore which includes Range Rover and BMW.
Recent Post
