Karthik targets India comeback

Dinesh Karthik has been a specialist wicketkeeper. He has been a specialist batsman. A wicketkeeper who can bat and a batsman who can keep. But despite his domestic success, his time the Indian team has been quite sporadic.

But MS Dhoni's retirement from Tests at the end of 2014 has given Karthik a glimmer of hope and he knows he has no option but to score big and knock on the selectors' doors. "I am at a stage where I want to score so much runs that they cannot ignore me," he said after scoring 167 for Tamil Nadu against Mumbai.

"That's what I am looking at. I want to set the bar really high for me and keep trying my best to achieve that. I mean as a player that's a big challenge for me and I am going to try and do so well that they find it hard to ignore me at the national level and that's what I am aiming to do."

Wriddhiman Saha, the incumbent wicketkeeper in Tests, has stiff competition from the likes of Naman Ojha, Karthik and Parthiv Patel. And Karthik feels he has an edge over the rest: "For me, unlike other keepers it's totally a different ball game. I have played as a batsman so I always back myself to play as a batsman and fielding comes to me pretty naturally so it's never been a problem.

"I have always batted in all slots right from opening to No 7. I have been versatile in that way. I have always looked at myself differently. I feel I am more a batsman who can keep wicket as well. So I can do each thing individually [well] so in that I am very confident. I don't look at myself as a wicketkeeper-batsman who is only into that sort of mould because I have played as a batsman, so I think a little bit different that way."

The fact that he is backing himself to be considered purely as a batsman hasn't pulled his focus from wicketkeeping. According to him, he has been working harder with the gloves. "I have really worked on my keeping and it's coming out really well," he said. "I had a couple of good games. I am really confident of my keeping .The key is to keep carrying on from here, so as I said I am going to set the bar so high that they are going to say that there is no way to stop him."