Dinesh Karthik:
Until MS Dhoni had made an entrance in the top-flight cricket, all eyes were on Dinesh Karthik as the latest. Under the leadership of Ganguly, different wicketkeeper-batsmen were tried and best before settling with Ranchi star Dhoni.
At 19, Karthik had made his international debut in 2004 at an iconic Lord’s stadium. The Tamil Nadu cricketer had featured in nine Tests before being sidelined. He further played overall 26 Tests for India in which he could manage 1025 runs at an average of 25. Also, he has a century and five fifties to his name.
As the first-choice stumper, Karthik couldn’t do much before facing an axe. More often than not, Karthik had played under Dhoni’s shadow following his failure to convert his starts. All in all, under Ganguly’s leadership role, Karthik didn’t get much chance apart from sparse opportunities.