When India toured England last summer, Karthik was rumoured to be the better keeper above Dhoni. Having got his chance in the latest Test v Pakistan, he's managed to concede 31 byes and the innings isn't near to complete yet. I don't think Dhoni has much to worry about...
The dreaded cramp seems to have returned again in Bangladesh - this time it's Dinesh Karthik. Having been put in to bat India are cruising along without having lost a wicket but Bangladesh have dropped two relatively simple chances. Jaffer looks set to get his hundred any minute, but Karthik was carried off, causing the players to take an early tea, and didn't return afterwards.
In the first ODI Dhoni used a runner because of cramps, in the second Ghambir, and now this. Having just returned from India I know it's pretty hot out that way at the moment, but surely the Indian's can look at their pre-match diet and nutrient intake? In these days of specialists covering everything that could determine performance, it seems more than fluke or bad luck that so many players have been affected by cramp, and India need to look at this part of their match preparation it would seem.
Unsure what a show pony is? They are the guys or girls who make a regulation piece of sporting skill look as if ti was difficult. There are a number of them about - I'm sure you can name one at your club and certainly several amongst professional cricketers.
Dinesh Karthik - take a bow - you are Cricket Burble's first official show pony. Bangladesh's 2nd wicket today involved Karthik taking a catch above his head but it was one of those that he would have been distraught to miss. He took a small jump in the air to take the catch - so far so good. But then, inexplicably, rather than land on his feet and go and celebrate with his team, he curled his feet up underneath himself and fell backwards, so that he landed on his thigh and back, thus making the catch look a lot harder than it was.
We need to stamp this out asap, or otherwise it will be an epidemic like it is in football where goalkeepers make a diving save and rather than fall on their side, they manage to somehow roll over several times so that can be no doubt amongst the crowd just what a great save they have made.
Another show pony moment that comes to mind is Mike Hussey's catch of Kevin Pietersen in the final Ashes test earlier this year in Sydney. Hussey took what was a pretty tricky catch over his head, but just to make sure he didn't miss out on any admiration from his team-mates or the crowd, he really show-ponied it up. He took the catch with his hands out in front of him as he ran. So what did he do? Keep running in a semi-circle so that he could run back to his team to celebrate? Stumble slightly as his weight was a little off-centre and then regain his balance? No - he thrust his hands out at full stretch after he'd caught the ball (they were slightly bent when he caught the ball), and then threw himself to the ground landing on his chest, waiting on the ground for a second to make sure that he'd got maximum exposure before getting to his feet.
Show ponies must be stopped, before it's too late!
Interesting the reaction of the Indian press to their win against Bangladesh a couple of days ago. "Dhoni wins it on one leg" seemed to be the sort of headlines that came out, as Dhoni ended up on 91 not out despite batting with a runner for most of his innings due to cramp. But the Times of India went further, blaming Abdur Razzaq of Bangladesh for their defeat given that he fumbled the ball when Karthik would have been run out almost as soon as he came to the wicket. As it was he made a half century undefeated and won the game for India with Dhoni.
But Dhoni was as plumb as plumb can be with very few runs to his name and not given out by umpire Asoka de Silva which changed the game. And the bowler? One Abdur Razzaq, the guy that according to the Times of India cost Bangladesh the game. He must be cursing his luck....
India today chased down a target of 250 off 47 overs with an over to spare. But things didn't always look comfortable, and but for a monumental umpiring error, India may well have lost to Bangladesh. India started their reply fluently at well over the required run rate, but first Gambhir and Sehwag fell having got set, the latter playing a rash uppish shot into the covers to get caught off the last ball of an over when he's already hit 16 off the first five balls.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni came in at 3 and played extremely well, ultimately steering India to victory with Dinesh Karthik despite a pulled hamstring which meant that he needed a runner for the second half of his innings. With the pressure on India after three wickets had fallen before the 10th over had been completed, Bangladesh skipper Habibal Bashar turned to left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq, who trapped Dhoni stone cold in front first ball of the 13th over. But the umpire remained unmoved, despite the fact that the ball would have hit two thirds of the way up middle stump.
This decision proved crucial, but Bangladesh still had other chances to take further wickets after the sixth wicket pair of Dhoni and Karthik came together with 107 still required. Almost as soon as he had arrived at the wicket Khartik should have been run out by several yards, but Razzaq failed to take the throw to the bowler's end. Dhoni and Karthik then batted very sensibly to bring the total well within their grasp only to have another heart-stopping moment when Yuvraj Singh, running for Dhoni, called for an unnecessarily tight second run with the score on 210 - all India needed to do at this point was not lose wickets and the game would be theirs. But Singh called for a dicey second that would have resulted in Dhoni being run out with a direct hit. As it was replays showed Singh's bat was over the line but in the air at one point as he dived to make his ground, then seemingly down just in time, but what was really needed was a shot between the two screens that showed the exact moment the stumps were broken, although this wasn't available to the 3rd umpire who correctly ruled Singh, and Dhoni, in.
Karthik, after his early run out scare, batted very sensibly employing the sweep with great regularity against Bangladesh's 3 left-arm spinners, and ended up with 58 not out, while Dhoni ended up with 91 not out. Dhoni was named man-of-the-match and was India's hero, but he really shouldn't have been there if the umpire had made the right call in the 13th over, and Bangladesh can feel rightly peeved.
India v Bangladesh scorecard
