Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik pronunciation born 1 June 1985 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India is a wicketkeeper-batsman in the Indian cricket team. He was a batsman in his junior career, but turned to wicket-keeping in order to improve his future prospects. Making his international debut in late 2004 in both ODI and Test cricket, he was the regular wicket-keeper in Tests, making rare appearances in ODIs. He was replaced as Test wicketkeeper by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in late 2005. After donning the mantle of an opener for his domestic cricket team, he was recalled to the national squad as a batsman in late 2006 after injuries and form slumps hit other batsmen, playing occasional matches in both forms of cricket on the tour to South Africa.