Dinesh Karthik, Hemang Badani and Aashish Kapoor at the Eden on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: He was a member of Team India’s successful Test series in Zimbabwe only three months ago. But life for wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has changed dramatically ever since someone called Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived on the horizon as a trail-blazer.

Karthik ? who was expected to be in the Pakistan-bound squad as a back-up for Dhoni, but that place eventually went to Parthiv Patel ? thinks that there are lessons to be learnt from such setbacks.

“Yes, I’m disappointed not to be in the squad (for Pakistan tour) but it probably gives you the opportunity to reflect on your shortcomings. I think I need to improve on my batting because for a wicketkeeper’s place in the team, batting is the bottomline,” Karthik pointed out on Monday.

Is Dhoni’s batting, then, a “worry” for him?

Karthik admitted that the Jharkhand player has added a new dimension to the ’keeper’s job. “But every player has his own style. Dhoni is dashing and aggressive while I want to do things my own way,” the youngster maintained.

To Karthik, the greenish look of the wicket for the Bengal-Tamil Nadu Ranji match, starting from Tuesday, however, was a surprise.

“I’ve never seen such a wicket while playing in India,” he said.

Karthik is also looking forward to playing against Sourav Ganguly. “I played against him in the Challenger Trophy (in 2004). But it’s a fresh challenge altogether,” he said.

Meanwhile, another former India player, Hemand Badani, revealed on the sidelines of the team’s match-eve practice at the Eden that he stepped down as Tamil Nadu captain to concentrate on batting. Led by him, Tamil Nadu lost by 9 wickets against Mumbai last Thursday.

“I was not satisfied with my form. And I thought I could do justice to the team by improving on batting. I decided to relinquish the post just two days ago.