Dinesh Karthik's redemption arc might finally be nearing closure

Cast your mind back to 2006. India have just begun emerging from the tumultuous Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly cricketing axis. Youngsters of the ilk of Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni have shown how talented they are. Rahul Dravid has started leaving an impression as India captain. And Indian cricket, despite all the controversies that have dominated the back pages, seem to be on the right path.

But then, all of a sudden, someone introduces them to the idea of T20 cricket. The virtues of prizing your wicket above everything else. The quality of biding your time before launching an assault. The tendency to be cautious and calculative before being creative. All of that is thrown out of the window.

At the centre of this new storm is India’s next generation – comprising the likes of Dhoni and Karthik. Both are wicket-keepers but both seem to add enough value as pure batters. Karthik, in particular, has shown his versatility in different formats.

So, when the wicket-keeper displays exemplary composure and guides India to a successful run-chase against South Africa in their debut T20I, almost everyone thinks he will be part of the new era the country ushers in. A dynamic batter, a livewire on the field and a fearless cricketer. He ticks every box that possibly needs ticking in the shortest version.

A year later, though, when India travel to South Africa for the inaugural T20 World Cup, he isn’t their leading light. In fact, he is struggling to even find a place in the side. It hasn’t been down to internal politics or anything. He has just not scored enough runs in the opportunities that have been accorded to him.

The Men In Blue ultimately win the entire thing, with Joginder Sharma’s last over against Misbah-ul-Haq finding a unique place in Indian cricketing folklore. But during that tournament, there is another image that is forever etched in cricketing memory – the image of Karthik flying to his left and completing a stunning catch to dismiss Graeme Smith.

That, apart from illustrating how Karthik remains capable of special moments, also highlights how those moments are very rare. If anything, that has become the overriding theme throughout his career – a career that has never been short of promise but has almost always been short of the requisite returns.

Cut to the present. And IPL 2022. Despite having made his First-Class debut during the 2002-03 season, Karthik is still a relevant entity. He is not just part of a Royal Challengers Bangalore squad that has reached the play-offs, he has largely been responsible for whatever RCB have achieved this season.

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Dinesh Karthik has been sensational in IPL 2022

Karthik has walked into perilous situations and has remained unfazed. He has played his brand of cricket and while that is usually fraught with risk, he has evolved a mechanism to remain as risk-free as ever. A staggering return of 287 runs at an average of 57.4 and a strike rate of 191.33 has followed. But this article isn’t about the numbers Karthik has produced. Anyone who has caught a glimpse of IPL 2022 probably knows what he has accomplished and why his inclusion in the Indian cricket team is warranted.

Instead, it is about how he, even at nearly 37 years of age, finds himself having to prove his worth all over again. It isn’t because India have not trusted him enough or have not given him adequate opportunities. It is because he, for some reason or the other, has just not been able to live up to his vast potential so far.

A T20I record of 399 runs at 33.25 at a strike rate of 143.52 isn’t shabby at all. If anything, it shows that he can accelerate at the outset and remain unbeaten in tricky run-chase – just like it happened against South Africa all those years ago. But as this IPL season has portrayed, he can be so much more.

In the inaugural T20 World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, Karthik could have been a difference-maker by himself. Instead, he was a part of the whole – someone who sparkled intermittently but didn’t really grab the tournament by the scruff of its neck. Karthik, being the humble soul he is, will admit it too.

All of that, though, could change come June 2022 – against the very opposition where his T20I story started. Back then, he had shown enough for people to believe that he was the next poster boy of India’s white-ball cricket. He had the requisite skill-set and talent, as far as he is concerned, has never been a problem.

In 2022, most of those notions haven’t changed. He can still be the player that defines India’s T20 World Cup campaign. He still has a skill-set that isn’t rivalled by many. And he still is as good a match-winner as any in the country. However, there is another narrative that hasn’t changed – the narrative that Karthik, almost always, finds ways to not live up to his billing.

It wouldn’t be wrong to criticise people with that point of view either. For someone of his class, 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 32 T20Is seems so less. But this is the latest rendition of the Dinesh Karthik redemption arc – an arc where he seems intent on righting every wrong perception about him.

In the IPL, it has worked a charm, hence, the India call-up. For India, that is still a little far away. However, if he can be just as good as he was on the Men In Blue’s T20I debut against South Africa, his career could still be remembered for what happened at the outset and how it ended, rather than being symbolized by whatever transpired in between.

It's not something many would have envisioned. But it is a position Karthik has forcefully barged his way into. And for now, it just about feels right.