‘You’re so talented as a batsman’ – Dinesh Karthik reveals how MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid backed him at the start of his career

Dinesh Karthik’s international career hardly took off after he made his debut back in 2004 during India’s home Tests against Australia. At the age of 36, his chances of making a comeback don’t look the brightest after he last played in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

Karthik has taken up commentary as a profession of late and has garnered a lot of fans. In the meantime, Tamil Nadu-born Karthik has revealed how MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid supported him during the early part of his career.

The veteran stated that he was asked to open the batting after he performed exceptionally for the domestic teams in India. Karthik put forth his opinions while speaking on former Indian batter Aakash Chopra’s official YouTube channel.

That gave me a lot of confidence: Dinesh Karthik

“I never brood over things. My nature has always been – what is next? That has always been my constant question to myself. At that point, it was to become a batter. There was a spot in the middle-order and then as an opener. One thing that people, including Dhoni, would say – ‘you’re so talented as a batsman, you can open’.

“So that gave me a lot of confidence and then Rahul Dravid also said you have the skills to be a pure batter. So I went to domestic cricket, scored lots of runs, then got an opportunity as an opener and did well,” Karthik said.

Like Karthik, Dhoni also forayed into international cricket in 2004. The latter made his debut in an ODI against Bangladesh and got a duck after being run-out at the striker’s end. However, once he notched a century against Pakistan in Vizag, there was no stopping the man from Ranchi.

Karthik reckoned that Dhoni’s presence changed the face of Indian wicketkeeping. He also went on to call Dhoni a once-in-a-generation cricketer.

“When Dhoni came in, he took the complete country by storm and I knew that door was closed. Keeper-batsman is always a decade-long job. Syed Kirmani was there, then Kiran More. Dhoni was a once-in-a-generation kind of a cricketer,” he added.

As far as Karthik was concerned, he has played 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 32 T20Is for Team India, having scored one century and 16 half-centuries.