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Dhaka, May 26: India's new found opening solution Dinesh
Kaarthick is hoping that his maiden century today in the second
and final cricket Test against Bangladesh would put a stop to
all discussions about him not being a regular opener. "I try to
be as consistent as possible. And that can be done if I work a
lot on my batting in terms of footwork, in terms of mindset. And
I am always trying to do that," said Kaarthick, who dedicated
his century to his family and newly married wife Nikita. "And
what is very important is that I am trying to transform my
batting from one-day cricket to Test cricket. And I am happy at
the way things are going on," said the Tamil Nadu player.
Asked whether his knock of 129 today would stop all talks of him
being not a regular opener, Kaarthick said, "hopefully so." "I
am trying my best to become a very good opener. I have been
always trying to do that. I want to get as many runs as
possible," he said, reminding the scribes that Virender Sehwag
had also switched from a middle order bat to an opener.
Kaarthick said the innings has given him satisfaction as it was
played under tough conditions and he also had fever. "It was
tough because conditions were really hard and I was running a
bit of a temperature. Probably I could feel the cramps in my
hamstring.
"But I told myself to keep playing as I was very close to my
hundred. It is important as it is my first hundred and I am
happy about it." On whether the slowness of the wicket was
making it difficult to score quick runs, he said, "the ball was
not coming to the bat that easily. And I got out because there
was lack of pace on the wicket and I played the ball much
earlier than I should have." Kaarthick said that if he and
Jaffer could keep up their good work as opening pair, then that
would help the team.
"If we can be consistent it will be very good. We have been
putting up partnerships. And if we can continue this, I think it
will help the team." Kaarthick, who had earlier opened at club
level and also in a couple of Ranji Trophy matches, said that he
had taken his opener's role as a challenge. He refused to
speculate on whether his team would be able to win the Test
inside three days.
"I wouldn't like to comment on that because they are also a good
team. I am sure they are going to try their best tomorrow, put
their best foot forward. What we would like to do is bowl to a
good line and length, as we did today. Then take it from there."
On the difference between the visitors' bowling yesterday as
compared to today, Kaarthick said "generally they were little
tired today. We could easily see it. "Their best chance was to
get a couple of wickets early on. Which they didn't. So they
were always struggling, always trying to save runs, prolong the
game. "Yesterday morning they wre trying hard for wickets. After
lunch also they came back very hard." (Agencies)
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