Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik will be making a comeback into the Indian Test side after 87 Tests, a long hiatus he believes MS Dhoni was the reason for.

Karthik has been named as a replacement to injured Wriddhiman Saha, for the one-off Test against Afghanistan.

And having last played in the five-day format in 2010, Karthik gave an honest reply when asked why he believes he couldn’t wear the whites for India for all these years – “he wasn’t as good as Dhoni”.

“Look, I think I wasn’t good enough, rather I was not consistent enough. That was a highly competitive environment and there was someone called MS Dhoni breathing down my neck, which caused a lot of stir in world cricket at that point of time. He went on to become one of the greatest captains India has ever produced,” he said.

“So, I didn’t lose my place to some normal cricketer; he (Dhoni) was special. I respect him for that. At that stage, I could not produce enough performance to hold on to my side. I need to be honest with myself. Now, I have another opportunity and I guess, I will try my best,” the 33-year old explained.

Now though, Karthik has a chance to make a case for himself, as he plays in place of Saha in the Test that starts June 14 at the M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru.

He says he doesn’t wish to overburden himself by thinking about sealing his position and instead wants to keep things simple.

“If you go deep into the question on what I should do to keep out someone else, then you are taking energy away from the fact that you are competing with somebody (Afghanistan). That puts extra pressure to what already is there,” he said.

“What I am trying to do — as cliched as it may sound — is trying to be the best cricketer that I can be, not on the field but also off the field. I am trying to be consistent there, even if I don’t get an opportunity. Even if I don’t play the sport at the highest level, I want to be content with the fact that I have given everything I had — both on and off the field,” Karthik said.

“If I go into your question and start thinking about that aspect, then it will be subjective — I need to score this, I need to score that. I don’t want to keep it that way. I want to keep it in a way which is try and prepare as much as I can. And given a chance, try and deliver. I am keeping my whole process that way.”