Player of many comebacks, Dinesh Karthik, drew curtains on his illustrious career after Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowed out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the playoffs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s heartbreaking loss to former champions Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2024 Eliminator turned out to be Karthik’s swansong.
Before Karthik called time on his playing career, the former RCB wicketkeeper-batter was sledged by Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya in the IPL 2024. While discussing the sledge talks in the IPL, the former RCB star also mentioned Virat Kohli. Karthik recalled that Kohli often poked him whenever the former RCB skipper completed his dismissal in the cash-rich league.
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‘Every time I played against RCB and Virat Kohli…’
“Every time I played against RCB and Virat Kohli caught my catch, ‘Ben Stokes’ came out of his mouth for sure. But that was a send-off. Hardik Pandya sledged me saying ‘Abhi leg-spinner aaya, iska thank you hi hai’ [Now a leg spinner will come, and it is Thank You time] Then I had to play a couple of shots, and then he was like ‘Theek hai, thoda improve hogaya lag raha hai’. [Looks like he’s improved a bit]. That was good,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
‘Rohit Sharma was also taunting…’
Karthik is one of the seven players who have played in every season of the IPL so far. Turning 39 in June, the former RCB star had an eventful season with the Kohli-starrer side in the IPL 2024. Nicknamed DK, Karthik smashed 326 runs in 15 games. “He’s a good friend. He was also like ‘commentator banke bhi thoda kaam kar raha hai’. [Even after becoming a commentator, he’s working on his game] That was fun. Rohit Sharma was also taunting me this year… unnecessarily giving me hopes,” Karthik added.
Karthik played 26 Tests, 94 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 60 T20Is for India. The former India star made his IPL debut with Delhi Capitals (DC) against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in 2008. The 38-year-old has played 257 matches in the world’s richest T20 league. DK accumulated 4842 in the IPL.
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