Disecting KKD

Dinesh Karthik is a hot topic of discussion on this blog at least.  I presume he is being given chances more than what he deserved.  I had presented his stats a while back in ODIs, T20Is and Tests..

I am going  a step ahead now and presenting stats for the dancing baby of the team as specialist batsman, keeper and a keeper batsman.   His career can be divided to 3 phases:

·         When he debuted as a keeper in 2004 after Parthiv Patel continuously fumbled in keeping.  Then Mongia, Ajay Ratra, Deep Dasgupta, Parthiv Patel had been tried since 2001.  Karthik debuted in Australia series in 2004.

·         Post Dhoni’s debut when he was no longer needed as a keeper, but he played as a specialist opener.

·         Replacement to Dhoni when he was injured / rested.

The time frames are as follows for each of this phases:

·         Oct 2004 – Dec 2005 when Dhoni debuted vs SL in India series.

·         SL 2008, NZ 2009, SL 2009 series when Dhoni was injured / rested

·         BD 2007, England 2007, Pakistan 2007 when he was opener. Amazing to find the fact during this time frame he was Sehwag ’s replacement.

In all he played 23 Tests and has scored exactly 1000 runs with a solitary 100 against BD in 2007 series just after the WC debacle. 

As opener

So when he did not play as keeper he has made 509 runs in 7 Tests @ 39.  4 50s, 1 against BD and 3 against England (his most successful series).  He flopped badly against Pakistan in India when he could score 39 runs in 3 Tests. Poor effort after the best series you have in your career. People get buoyant after a successful series. Mr. Karthik flopped.  

As Keeper Before Dhoni

As a keeper before Dhoni debuted in 2005 December, Karthik played 10 Test matches and made just 245 runs with an highest of 93 vs Pakistan @ Eden Gardens.  During this time he played against Australia (1), SA (2), Pakistan (3), BD (2) and Zim (2). 

As Keeper when Dhoni was injured / rested

He played 2 against SL in 2008,  1 against NZ, 1 against BD when Dhoni was injured / rested.

In this 4 tests he has made 79 runs with 27 as his highest vs BD. During this time he made 2 ducks (1 against BD and SL) and 3 single digit scores. One 20.

That’s the performance of Dinesh Karthik as batsman when he was keeper and a pure batsman.  If he is being played as a front line batsman, he is expected to score at least at 40 runs per innings. However he fails on that count. If you exclude England 2007 series then he fails as a pure batsman too. This for a batsman who claims he has worked on batting.

Wicketkeeping

He has had 45 catches and 5 stumpings as keeper and 6 catches as a fielder.

Despite this inconsistencies he has been the keeper #1 choice whenever MSD has been injured (4 Tests).  After he flopped in 2 Tests vs SL in 2008 Parthiv Patel was tried, but he did not do anything better than what Karthik did.

Compared with Patel, he has played 20 games (most of them during 2002- 2004).  He has had better records against Australia,  Pakistan and West Indies. Has played match saving innings which something Karthik has not done yet.

Karthik has had chances to play against much weaker attacks than what Patel had to play during his tenure as wicket keeper in 20 games.   He played 5 Tests against BD, barring a 100 and 50 he has not encashed the opportunity.   He grassed a lot of chances against Kumble in SL in 2008 and before.

Verdict : Useless player in Tests