Karthik keeps his eyes on the ball

Dinesh Karthik is aware that the tough climb has started again; quite familiar with the comeback route, the wicketkeeper and opening bat speaks about the importance of an India A outing in the backdrop of a disappointing Sri Lanka series. Excerpts:

You made a great comeback to international cricket after being dropped in 2006.

• Yes, things actually turned out to be good then. I was scoring runs and the best part was my consistency. I had a good South Africa tour as an opener, followed by England.

So what went wrong after that?

• I don't know, I can't point out any specific area. I had just one bad series but before that I have scored runs and kept wickets well too. Sometimes things don't go as you want to but that doesn't means that one should sit and think about it all the time.

Is it because of lack of runs that you can't concentrate on your keeping or is it the other way round?

• I don't think there is any relation between wicketkeeping and batting. When I keep wickets I only concentrate on my collection and when I bat, the focus is entirely on playing a long innings and scoring runs.

Your 'keeping came under the scanner in the Sri Lanka Test series.

• I agree and I also know that people might have different opinions over that but you can't stop them. I realise that I failed to keep well against Kumble on a couple of occasions but such things happen.

Earlier it was Parthiv who was competing with you, now you will be trying to replace him.

• Competition will always be there, and it is good for every player. Without it, there won't be any excitement. Everyone in the team works hard for their place; Parthiv has also worked his way in by scoring heavily in domestic cricket. Now it's my turn.

... contd.

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