On Wednesday, the Indian selection panel decided to send Parthiv Patel as a replacement for Wriddhiman Saha for the third Test against England in Mohali, starting on Saturday.
They had the option of going for either of the youth exuberance of Rishabh Pant who has been in sensational form but instead chose to go for the experience of Patel. Another candidate who they could have considered was Dinesh Karthik, who has donned the India colours in the past, but has found himself out of favour in the current setup.
The 31-year-old has begun the 2016-17 domestic season in fine fashion, amassing scores of 163, 73, 95, 65, 80 and 54, but while his batting on one front went northwards, he was severely hampered by not being able to keep, after sustaining an injury during the Ranji Trophy match at Cuttack against Madhya Pradesh.
Expectedly Karthik was disappointed and admitted that he ignored the injury and kept for a few more matches, before being advised against since it would affect his rest of the campaign for Tamil Nadu.
"I feel terribly bad as I have worked hard on my keeping skills. Ahead of the season, I worked with former India keeper Sameer Dighe on my glove work.
"It was a hairline fracture in the middle-finger on the right hand and yet I decided to keep wickets in the next two matches. It got worse and I was advised not to keep wickets as any further damage would mean the end of my season.
“Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Kapoor (captain and coach of India Blue side in Duleep Trophy) can certainly talk about the improvement I have made as a keeper,” Karthik told the Times of India.
Patel’s recall back into the Indian setup has only risen the optimism within Karthik, who is looking to get back to being the Number one wicket-keeper for his state, adding that he continues to dream about playing for the country again.
“I have genuinely improved as a keeper and I'm itching to wear them back. As I said about two months back, I still have the burning desire to play for India again.
“I will be fit for the next game against Gujarat as a keeper. I have given my best in batting and I'm confident of doing well with the gloves as well. Keeping is a lot like umpiring, the misses are remembered most,” he said.
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