When Dinesh Karthik made his Ranji Trophy debut as a 16-year old in 2002, S Suresh, S Sriram, J Madanagopal, J Gokulakrishnan and Hemang Badani were his team-mates in the Tamil Nadu side. They have all become coaches now. In fact, Madanagopal and Gokulakrishnan coached Karthik at Albert TUTI Patriots in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. Karthik's 14-year journey will reach a major milestone on Friday, when he plays his 100th Ranji match, which just happens to be a quarter-final against rivals Karnataka.
Despite the time that has passed, Karthik retained vivid memories of his first outing as a first-class player. "I was just jumping, chilling and enjoying," he told reporters in Visakhapatnam. "[S] Sharath had a wide, red eye looking at the wicket, big eyes and focussing and he used to tell me, 'what? you are not focusing?' The match was against Baroda in Guru Nanak Ground. Irfan [Pathan] was there and already on the verge of playing for India. I had no clue. I had just come from [playing] Under-19 [cricket] and enjoying [myself], just taking it casually."
Karthik came in to bat at No.8 and put on a fifty partnership with Sharath, which handed Tamil Nadu the first-innings lead. "They [Baroda] scored 380-400 odd, and we chased it back," he said." I was batting with Sharath and I had made a good 37 or something before tea, but after the break first ball I slashed at was caught behind. He was very upset, but I was just not bothered. I was like wow, and walked back as fast as I had come in."
In his second match against Uttar Pradesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Karthik remembered hitting his way to 88 not out. "I think there was a bit of pressure but I didn't know," he said. "I was not bothered about it also because I went to play India Under-19 after that. I was like, 'cool, I am happy, you dropped me and I am on my flight for Under-19.' It just never affected me and went with the ride."
At one point, after making that fifty, he had even told Sharath, '"Ranji Trophy is so easy man, it can't be so easy'. Sharath looked at me and laughed for about five minutes without saying anything. Now after my ups and downs when I look back it's such an immature statement"
It isn't difficult to see why Karthik felt unchallenged. He has all the shots in the book and a few that aren't in there as well. And that made him a pretty handy limited-overs player.
In a Champions League T20 game between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, R Ashwin went around the wicket, paused in his action, and then bowled a quicker one on middle and leg stump. Karthik, having shuffled outside off, paused as well and then viciously slog-swept his Tamil Nadu team-mate into the stands beyond square leg. Once, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Karthik reverse-paddled medium-pacer Darren Sammy for four off the back of the bat for Delhi Daredevils in Dubai.
All that flash has also got him into trouble. In Tamil Nadu's first game of this year's Ranji Trophy, Karthik attempted an ambitious scoop and perished in a tense low-scorer. Mumbai won. Several coaches have tried to wean him off the high-risk-low-reward shots, but those had also contributed to some of his more memorable performances too.
"The first hundred I got [against Railways in 2003-04]…I had to play out the last ball of the day and we were 220 odd for 5 in a tricky situation. I stepped out and hit the last ball of the day for a six," he said. "If you ask me to do that today, I won't be able to do it. But that's what I did then. I just felt that I could not defend so just stepped out and hit the ball. That was the mindset back then.
"The one against Baroda where we were trailing and I got a hundred and we won; it was an important innings in the context of the game. Even against Railways, this season, we were behind eight-ball and I scored a hundred and we won the game. Then the hundred against Mumbai in the final [in 2004], they had a good bowling attack. Aavishkar Salvi, Nilesh Kulkarni. We were 60-70 for 5, and I got 120 odd and we just managed 300 and then they smashed us. It was a daunting task to play against Mumbai in the final then, so it was a good hundred. There have been a few hundreds, but reaching the final on three occasions has been a good thing for me, just that we haven't been able to cross the line."
Karthik is now the senior-most player in the state side. While he was disappointed that a finger injury coincided with India's hunt for a wicketkeeper to stand in for Wriddhiman Saha in the Test series against England, he has learnt to accept such setbacks are inevitable. He has learnt to move on.
"It was touch and go between him [Parthiv Patel] and me," he says. "My finger being injured didn't help the situation. That's how life is. Sometimes I might get an opportunity when nobody is expecting it. I have to take the good with the bad."