Dinesh Karthik has brought down the curtain on his illustrious Indian Premier League (IPL) career after Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s campaign ended in the ongoing season.
The Bengaluru-based team’s hopes of winning their first IPL title were dashed with the loss against Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator. RCB had turned things around remarkably and secured a place in the playoffs. After losing seven of their eight games, they won six in a row to reach the playoffs before losing to Rajasthan Royals.
After the four-wicket loss at the Narendra Modi Stadium, an emotional Dinesh Karthik was seen greeting the fans and also received a guard of honor from his teammates. With the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman bringing down the curtain on his playing career, Virat Kohli has a message for him.
In a video posted by RCB on social media in which Karthik spoke about his career, Virat Kohli also shared a message. The former India captain hoped Karthik would continue his association with the franchise in one way or the other.
“We hope he stays connected with RCB in one way or the other in the future because his cricketing experience is priceless,” Kohli said.
Dinesh Karthik responds to Virat Kohli:
In the same video, Dinesh Karthik responded to Virat Kohli’s message. The former Indian cricketer hailed Kohli as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and expressed his admiration for him. Karthik also said that being respected and valued by Kohli is a “big success” in his career.
The former cricketer also noted that he has learned a lot from Kohli and concluded his message by saying that he will always be available for RCB whenever they need his services.
“Virat Kohli is probably one of the greatest sportsmen to ever play the sport and possibly the most famous personality in world cricket. I have always liked him well, been a fan of his,” Karthik said.
“I always watched him from afar and learned a lot of things in terms of how hard he works off the field. I’m a big fan of his. To know that he respects me and values me as a person, I’ll take that. That’s a huge, huge success in my career in the cricket”.
“And I will do everything I can for RCB whenever possible. The fact that they gave me a new life when I played for them at the end of my career is something I will never forget,” he added.
We’ve seen his friends and colleagues sing his praises and give him a fitting farewell to the game, and thanks to the humble and low-key character that he is, we had to press DK to talk about the ups and downs of his career and the love he’s received from the RCB fans and… pic.twitter.com/p7oXLr3BgK
– Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 24, 2024
Karthik played in the IPL since the first season in 2008. He finished his IPL career as a player by scoring 4842 runs in 257 games with the help of 22 half-centuries. In the current season, he scored 326 runs, including two fifties.