After three editions, Dinesh Karthik finally gets World Cup game time

Dinesh Karthik, after making his ODI debut as a fresh faced teenager back in 2004, on Tuesday made his World Cup debut as a replacement for Kedar Jadhav against Bangladesh at Edgbaston.

Dinesh Karthik playing his first World Cup game.

It has been a long and agonising wait for India's Dinesh Karthik.

The wicket-keeper batsman, after making his ODI debut as a fresh faced teenager back in 2004, on Tuesday made his World Cup debut as a replacement for Kedar Jadhav against Bangladesh at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Karthik, 34, was part of India's doomed 2007 World Cup campaign but remained on the bench where the team lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to crash out in the group stages. M.S. Dhoni, who is playing his fourth successive World Cup, was India's first-choice wicketkeeper in the 2007 team.

The Tamil Nadu player wasn't part of the team which won the 2011 tournament and the 2015 side which was eliminated in the semifinals.

In the last two years, Karthik has predominantly featured in the limited overs side as a pure batsman and has established himself as a clinical finisher while chasing.

On his World Cup debut, Karthik came in at No. 7 in the 45th over. He did not manage to make an impact with the bat as he was dismissed for a nine-ball eight while seeking to accelerate in the final overs of the Indian innings.

During Bangladesh's chase, Karthik took two crucial catches off the bowling of Hardik Pandya to get the wickets of Shakib al Hasan and Liton Das.