Dinesh Karthik has been in tremendous form in the IPL 2022, while playing for the Royal challengers Bangalore (RCB), the veteran batter-wicketkeeper has piled up 324 runs in 15 matches with an astonishing average of 64.80 and a staggering strike rate of 187.28.
Due to his remarkable performance for the Faf du Plessis-led franchise, Karthik has been recalled in the Indian squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa.
Karthik has garnered appreciation for his performance in the IPL 2022, from fans and critics alike. Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson named Karthik as the "standout" performer for RCB this season.
Speaking on the Grade Cricketer Podcast, Watson said, “Josh Hazlewood, he has shown that with CSK, and now his bowling the T20s has gone through the roof in the last 18 months. Harshal Patel has added value again, gosh he has just been brilliant in the last couple of years. And the one who has been the biggest standout has been Dinesh Karthik. The value he has added and he showed that last night (Wednesday against Lucknow Super Giants). To finish off innings like that, they could have been stagnated a bit but he got 32 of 16 balls to really provide that extra little burst. He has done that just about every time he has batted for RCB."
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Karthik played a crucial knock of 37*(23) against the Lucknow Super Giants in the Qualifier 1 of IPL 2022 partnering with Rajat Patidar (112*) and adding 92* runs in last 40-odd balls, helping RCB reach a humongous total of 207/4.
RCB won by 14 runs, and will face Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022 Qualifier 2 on May 27.
Opening up on Faf du Plessis’ leadership as the RCB skipper, Watson said, "Even before this tournament started, RCB were one of my favourites because of how well they did in the auction and how well-balanced their squad they were able to put together was. Faf du Plessis, that was a great buy for them. Because knowing that Virat was going to step down, Faf was probably was one of the only few players I think was going to do a brilliant job to know how to get the best out of Virat as not the captain and sort of know how to steer the franchise into the right direction."
Building on this, he said, "It was tactically a brilliant decision to get Faf involved and lead. He is great guy and very good leader. Very compassionate, caring and empathetic guy. He was always going to do a good job and combine that with Kohli, Maxwell and Hazlewood.”
(Grade Cricketer Podcast inputs)
