Kaarthick hopes century will shut up critics

Dhaka, May 26 (UNI) India's new-found opening batsman Dinesh Kaarthick hopes that his maiden Test century will shut up his detractors.

''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, dedicating his maiden Test 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. I would like to be like Veerubhai (Virender Shewag) who started as a middle order batsman and became a successful opener,' said the Tamil Nadu player.

Asked whether his knock of 129 today would stop all talks of him beign not a regular opener, Kaarthick said, ''Hopefully so.'' ''And 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.

Kaarthick also said that the innings has given him a lot of satisfaction as he had played the innings with fever under tough conditions.

''It was tough because conditions were really hard and I was running a bit of 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.'' However, Kaarthick was certain about Bangladesh giving a fight back from here but quickly pointed out that their main task is to bowl consistently on a good line and length.

''Bangladesh 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,'' he said.

He also praised Team India's support staff for their relentless strenuous service outside the field.

''They were absolutely fabulous. You can see a lot of work is being done backstage. Generally these guys never get publicity. We are given ice bath and they constantly keep giving us some replacement, nutrients etc so that we can carry on with the game.'' On his take on Bangladesh bowling yesterday and 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 were trying hard for wickets, after lunch also they came back very hard.'' Meanwhile, he hopes that his maiden ton would be a lucky one just like his previous highest score of 93 against Pakistan in 2005 where they later went on to pocket the Test.

''I consider the 93 a very good knock, as we had won the Test.

I will consider this hundred also as a good knock if we win.'' The Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper also lauded his opening partner Wasim Jaffer saying, ''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.'' UNI BA SSC AKD BST2050