Dinesh Karthik’s ‘special’ request

Dinesh Karthik has led Tamil Nadu with success in the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments.

However, the 34-year-old wicket-keeper batsman, it has been learnt from sources, is not keen on leading the team in the Ranji Trophy.

The State side begins its campaign against Karnataka at Natham on December 9.

It is understood that Karthik believes he does not have a great chance of making a comeback to the Indian Test team — he averages 25 with the bat from 26 Tests — and does not want to block the path of a youngster.

It is, however, learnt that Karthik has assured the selectors that he is available to play for Tamil Nadu in the important Ranji games and on challenging pitches. He has 9376 runs at an average of just over 40 in First Class cricket.

Karthik felt that he had a better chance of making a return to Team India in white-ball cricket — he averages 30.20 and and 33.25 in ODIs and T20Is — and that was one of the reasons why he agreed to lead Tamil Nadu in the shorter formats.

It remains to be seen how the selectors respond to Karthik’s “important Ranji games only” request.