When Dinesh Karthik embarrassed himself in front of Sourav Ganguly

People often reminisce about the career of Victor Valdez, former Barcelona keeper with teary eyes. If it had not been for the legend of Iker Casillas, no one else would’ve stopped him from being Spain’s leading goalkeeper. There’s a similar story in Indian cricket as well, where Dinesh Karthik is Victor Valdez whilst the immortal MS Dhoni is Iker Casillas.

Many experts reckon if it had not been for the brilliance of Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik would’ve become a superstar in the country. But in both Spain and India’s case, the country benefitted profusely with Dhoni and Casillas at the helm. But for Karthik, unlike Valdez, there’s still some more time left to leave his mark behind.

Talking about various intricacies of life with Gaurav Kapur on Breakfast with Champions, Dinesh Karthik revealed some uncharted stories of his personal and professional life. He recollected an incident involving his former captain Sourav Ganguly, which according to him was quite embarrassing.

Teammates called me Chota Cheeka after that incident: Karthik

Karthik was referring to the incident that took place in the 2004 Champions Trophy. India and Pakistan were up against each other in a very important game and India were on the verge of losing. In this pressure cooker situation, India had picked up a wicket and hopes were reignited.

Dinesh Karthik, who was an 18-year-old substitute at that point, rushed into the groud to give water bottles to the players and accidentally lost his footing. He eventually fell on Ganguly, who was giving a serious hurdle speech to the players.

“I was just 18 back then and I was trying to make my way into the side. It was the India-Pakistan match in the Champions Trophy. Pakistan had a brilliant partnership and they were inching closer towards the target and out of the blue, India got a wicket. It was a big wicket and everyone was pumped up. Dada (Ganguly) was leading the hurdle.

I was a substitute in that game and I had to carry drinks to the players. I was running towards the players to give them drinks and accidentally, I  slipped and fell on Dada. He got frustrated and yelled, “Where do you get these players from, who is he?”

That incident also earned Karthik a nickname. “I feel I got away from that incident being a youngster. They started calling me chota cheeka after that game,” said Karthik.