Karthik ready for 'difficult' responsibility

Dinesh Karthik has admitted that taking up the dual responsibility of opening the batting and wicketkeeping will be "difficult" though he is ready to do the job if required during the Test series in England. Karthik, who's opened in the previous three Tests, has been working harder on his batting since that is his primary responsibility on this tour.

Originally a wicketkeeper and middle-order batsman but now a specialist opener, Karthik said: "If the team management wants me to do it [open and keep wicket], I will. I've done it in domestic cricket so I'm used to it. I just need to be mentally prepared. I've worked harder on my batting than on my wicketkeeping on this tour as batting is what's going to be important. It's not as if keeping isn't but I'm working more on my batting."

He wasn't willing to be drawn into questions about Mahendra Singh Dhoni's poor form behind the stumps but spoke of the challenges of keeping in England.

"I'm playing as a batsman now and he [Dhoni] is doing a fantastic job keeping," Karthik said. "It takes time to adjust in England. You need to watch the ball closely; it tends to wobble after it passes the stumps and unlike in India it might just go the other way. You have to hope it doesn't wobble much and be ready to move in any direction.

"I've always been a keeper - I kept in Ireland, also kept in the second innings in Sussex. I feel good about it. Keeping has always come naturally to be, I'm lucky that way."