Dinesh Karthik, who called time on his Indian Premier League (IPL) career after IPL 2024, looked back at some unforgettable moments from his time in the middle. This included sledges from Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Rohit Sharma.
He also revealed what MS Dhoni told him about his foray into commentary, which he will continue as he has been named in the commentary panel for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024.
Dinesh Karthik retired from IPL after RCB was knocked out of IPL 2024 in the Eliminator match. He finished with 326 runs in this edition tournament and a brilliant knock of 83 as well with a strike rate of 187.
In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik was asked about memorable banters. He revealed a few by Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya. Pandya’s was especially a funny one as he took a jibe at Karthik’s impending retirement.
Karthik revealed: “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 legspinner aaya, iska thank you hi hai‘ [Now a legspinner 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. 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,” he added.
He also recalled Rohit Sharma sledging him with hopes of T20 World Cup recall: “Rohit Sharma this year taunting me… unnecessarily giving me hopes.”
As for the compliments he got during his playing days from his teammates and competitors, Karthik revealed: “There’s been a lot of outpouring of love… One for my cricket – Virat Kohli saying that he’d love me being part of the [RCB] team which was a great compliment. Dhoni said: ‘I’ve really enjoyed your commentary, DK. Very, very good.’ That’s about as big a compliment as you can get from Dhoni I guess.”
(Cricbuzz inputs)
