DINESH KARTHIK
Dinesh Karthik’s career has been like that of a phoenix, that has risen from the ashes more than once. Despite making his debut in 2004, Karthik has played 91 ODIs for the team and has scored 1738 runs for India. Karthik was one of the many keepers who got swept away in the MS Dhoni tsunami.

Karthik has tried time and again to reinvent himself into a batsman and only recently he succeeded in doing so. Even more, he has been finishing games for the Indian team in T20Is and has been one of the best batsmen in recent times and no one can forget that last-ball six to win the Nidahas Trophy.

However, Karthik has been a revelation in T20Is, but since he bats so low in ODIs, his performances are often overlooked and he only made into the ODI team because Rishabh Pant was rested for the Kiwi and Australia limited overs tour. Now that Pant is back in the reckoning, Karthik has a big contest on his hands to make the final squad, given that the finishing duties in ODIs usually fall on Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya, who also make up the fifth bowler.

But given Karthik’s experience and better keeping abilities than Pant, can prove to be an excellent backup to Dhoni as a keeper and Karthik has the ability to bat higher up the order at no.4 also if the chosen batsman at the spot fails.