'We've been brought up not to play selfish cricket' - Karthik
Dinesh Karthik played his part behind the stumps, and will certainly have a bigger role to play once Anil Kumble settles in on a pitch that already has significant rough patches
Dileep Premachandran in Cape town
03-Jan-2007
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After the Table-Mountain high of the opening day, it was a case of the
morning after for most of the Indians. A promising position was squandered
with the bat, and an erratic bowling performance then allowed Graeme Smith
and Hashim Amla to build up some real momentum in the closing stages of
play.
Dinesh Karthik played his part behind the stumps, and will certainly have
a bigger role to play once Anil Kumble settles in on a pitch that already
has significant rough patches. For the moment though, he can reflect on
his opening-day display, a doughty four-hour innings that spanned 170
balls and realised 63 runs. A poor decision ended it, but by then, Karthik
and Wasim Jaffer had already added 153 for the first wicket, the best
opening stand by any team against South Africa in more than two years.
"It was very challenging opening the innings and playing great bowlers
like Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini," said Karthik, speaking after the
second day's play at Newlands. "To get off to a good start boosted my
confidence and my self-esteem."
Though the pitch bore more resemblance to the ones that he left behind
back home, opening was still a stiff test of Karthik's technique,
especially when it came to choosing which balls to play. "As an opener,
it's important that you trust your technique because if you feel there's a
problem, you might not be able to handle good balls," he said. "You've got
to trust your technique if you want to bat out a session. It's not an easy
thing to do but hopefully, I'll keep getting better."
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When the series began, the prospect of opening in Cape Town would have
been far from his mind, given that there were three specialist openers in
the squad. But with Virender Sehwag's poor form forcing him down the
order, and Gautam Gambhir short of match practice, it was left to Karthik
to face the new-ball flak with Jaffer. "The night before the game, Rahul
Dravid told me to be prepared, saying: 'You might be asked to open'. So,
when he told me the next morning that I'd be opening, I was prepared."
According to Karthik, there had been no doubts in his mind when he was
asked to do the job, nor was there a feeling that he was being made a
sacrificial lamb. "It's important to be a team man," he said. "At the end
of the day, you have to do what the team wants you to do. That's how we
have been brought up; not to play selfish cricket."
For a man playing his first Test in over 15 months, he certainly came
through the ordeal with reputation enhanced. The hard work starts now. The
first step can often be fuelled by adrenaline, but an encore needs far
more strength of character.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo