File photo of Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni© AFP
In cricket, it's unfair to compare generations. Conditions, rules, opponents and opportunities should be taken into account. But then it always makes for an interesting topic of conversation. Dinesh Karthik recently picked his all-time XI in Indian cricket on Cricbuzz. The caption of the video, however, read: "DK's list of his top XI teammates". Karthik remarked that it was not possible for him to include everybody. Among the notable absentees in the XI, with whom Karthik has played in the national team, were Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni.
Karthik made his debut for the Indian cricket in 2004 along side the likes of Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
"I will be opening with Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma. Good opening combination across formats. At No. 3 would be Rahul Dravid. No. 4 Sachin Tendulkar. No. 5 Virat Kohli. At No. 6, it was a tough one. I was thinking who, but I should fit in two all-rounders. So very similar to the kind of players that India have been producing, Yuvraj Singh. At No. 7, Ravindra Jadeja. At No. 8, R Ashwin, at No. 9, Anil Kumble. At No. 10, Jasprit Bumrah, and No. 11 will be Zaheer Khan," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
"The 12th man will be Harbhajan Singh, and there are many players I have missed out. Gautam Gambhir, what can you say about it and I feel it's just hard to fit in everybody in this eleven. So, this is an all-time XI across formats that I thought."
Former wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik was recently signed by Paarl Royals for the third season of the SA20, making him the first Indian cricketer to participate in the South African league, starting on January 9. Karthik, 39, retired from all forms of cricket in June this year and since then he has been roped in as a mentor-cum-batting coach by IPL side Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
"I have so many fond memories of playing in and visiting South Africa, and when this opportunity came about, I couldn't say no because of how special it would be to come back to playing competitive cricket and win this incredible competition with the Royals," said Karthik, who has played 180 matches for India across all three formats.