NEW DELHI:
Dinesh Karthik
called time on his IPL and international cricket career after his team
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
's defeat against Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator on Wednesday.
In a career overshadowed by the arrival of
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
,
Karthik
played 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 60 T20s over the past 17 years.
RCB shared a video on their X handle where Karthik's teammate
Virat Kohli
, wife Dipika Pallikal and mentor Abhishek Nayar paid tribute to the man known for his comebacks.
Virat says, "First time I met DK, I remember we were playing in South Africa, Champions Trophy 2009. That was the first time I shared the change room with Dinesh and I found him to be very amusing, very, I would say hyper-active confused person, most of the time he was moving all over the place, never stopping. That was my first impression of Dinesh. Outstanding talent, brilliant batsman to watch. My first impression and the present day impression are not far apart, just that he has become wiser and calmed down a lot."
Dipika says, "I guess when things are meant to be, they happen and when we met in 2013, I think it was very fast that we knew that we have to spend our lives with each other and I'm guessing everything clicked."
Abhishek Nayar says, "I remember watching his father speaking about Dinesh when he was young. I think DK was really good at is once he's decided he wants to do something, he takes it upon himself and follows it to the T. He's not someone who'll question what someone's told. He's a great follower, he's a great leader as well. I think for someone to be a great leader, he needs to have the ability to follow and listen and I think DK has that tremendously."
Having played for as many as six teams in the IPL since the tournament's inception in 2008, Karthik finished with 4842 runs over 17 seasons besides taking 145 catches and effecting 37 stumpings. He batted at various positions all these years but his days at the RCB as a finisher over the past three seasons stood out.
Kohli continues, "Off the field I've had some really nice and interesting conversations with him. He's a very wise man, has great knowledge about a lot of things, not just cricket. I have thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with him. Even in the phase in 2022 when I didn't have a great IPL season, I was really struggling for confidence, he sat me down a couple of times and gave me a very honest explanation of how he is seeing things and maybe I am not able to see them myself. I just like his honesty, courage to go and speak to anyone about things he really feels about. That's the most special thing for me when it comes to Dinesh and that's always I've cherished about him and that's what we get along really really well."
When the cricketer from Chennai made his India debut in an ODI against England at Lord's in September 2004, he was just 19 years old.
With a stunning stumping of the opposition captain Michael Vaughan, he made his grand entrance known.
He made his Test debut against Australia three months later, but because of his lackluster performances and Dhoni's ascent to prominence, his international career was never able to truly take off.
Karthik was asked to open the batting on the 2007 tour of England, with Dhoni a lock for a spot in the playing eleven. He was instrumental in the team's historic away Test series victory.
Virat continues, "I've always looked at Dinesh and felt like he was such a correct player technically that he could adapt to any kind of role that's been given to him and I remember watching him in the 2013 season where he got some 600 runs and he batter brilliantly at three and I saw him play shots which were like 'wow'. I think he has done brilliantly to switch and become a renowned finisher."
Karthik made a strong impression on selectors prior to the T20 World Cup team announcement by turning heads as an RCB batsman. However, his one-last comeback was not to be, as they wisely opted to go with younger players.
On Karthik's time in RCB, Kohli said, "He's been connected to the team now for a long period of time and he has really thoroughly enjoyed himself here. He has been dearly accepted by the fans and he has a great cricketing brain so I wish him all the very best for his future endeavours moving forward and also hopefully he remains connected to RCB in one way or the other in the future because his expertise when it comes to cricket is priceless. I think he's of great value to this franchise."
Although Karthik acknowledged that his India career could have been much more, it was acceptable to be eclipsed by a player of Dhoni's caliber.
Virat
Kohli
, who was the first to appreciate his long career, and the rest of the RCB team rightly acknowledged his enormous contribution on Wednesday night. The consistency that he lacked in international cricket was his buddy in the IPL.
"He's got a lovely family, lovely wife, his kids are beautiful and I can tell him that he can be really proud of himself and his career and what he's done to make a name for himself and be accepted and loved by so many people, it's a great blessing so I wish him all the best," Virat added in the RCB tribute video.
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