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Karthik helps India beat Bangladesh to win Nidahas Trophy

CHENNAI: Dinesh Karthik has been in and out of the Indian team for 14 years. On Sunday, though, his stunning eight-ball 29 helped India notch up a face-saving win against Bangladesh in the Nidahas Trophy final, bringing the spotlight firmly on the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper batsman. Social media is abuzz that Karthik should now be considered as India’s No. 1 option for the wicketkeeper-batsman’s slot in limited-overs cricket, but that’s probably a far cry.The Indian team management has made it quite clear that MS Dhoni , despite his recent struggles with the bat, is the No. 1 option for that slot going into the 2019 World Cup. Even so, Karthik, who has close to 20000 domestic runs across formats, can be considered a pure batsman in the limited-overs line-up.Dhoni, quite clearly, is no longer the huge hitter who could clear the boundaries towards the fag end of the innings with ease. He looks more comfortable pacing the innings at No. 5 and India are in search of a finisher. Karthik could be the answer.Skipper Rohit Sharma , under whom Karthik flourished in Mumbai Indians, had exactly that in mind when he held back the ’keeper for the final burst against Bangladesh. “He was upset with not being sent at No. 6, but he’ll be quite happy now,” Rohit said.And it’s not just about the odd T20. India’s regular skipper Virat Kohli has given Karthik a few chances in ODIs and his scores in the last six innings read: 50*, 37, 64*, 4*, 0 & 26*. However, the 32-year-old didn’t get a single game in the six ODIs in South Africa.That hasn’t dampened his spirits, though, and in the last eight T20s he has played, Karthik has a strike-rate in excess of 150 and he has been dismissed only once.Former India cricketer Pravin Amre , who worked with the Tamil Nadu batsman in 2015, attributed this consistency to Karthik’s “newfound calmness”. “This is a drastic change we see in Karthik. His calmness is so critical. We are seeing the best of Karthik now. He has to be a regular in the side from here on. He can be a floater anywhere and in recent times he has been a finisher. I think that’s the biggest gain for India from this series,” Amre told TOI.Kris Srikkanth, former chairman of selectors, reckons Karthik has finally proved himself a match-winner on the big stage: “It was fantastic to see Karthik deliver under pressure. He was always a talented batsman with great potential. But now, he has showed his calibre as a finisher and match-winner in a high pressure situation at the right time.”Tamil Nadu coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said that the domestic cricket grind and past experiences have combined to turn Karthik into an “all-condition” cricketer.“You don’t become a matchwinner overnight. He has understood how to deal with pressure and analysed past experiences. The number of not outs he has in the last year underlines his mindset to see the side through. I don’t think he should be warming the bench from now,” said Kanitkar.