Dinesh Karthik recently bowed out of the Indian Premier League (IPL), silently, after a decent run for RCB where he scored 326 runs from 15 games at an average of 36.22 with 2 half-centuries and a top score of 83. RCB's defeat against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator was Karthik's final game in the T20 league, with the veteran wicket-keeper batter deciding to move on. RCB players also gave Karthik a guard of honour after the team's elimination from the tournament. In a video uploaded by RCB, Virat talked about his first impression of Dinesh Karthik. “I met him for the first time during the Champions Trophy in 2009. He was hyperactive and confused person, who was all over the place. That was my first impression of DK. He is a brilliant cricketer, who has knowledge of the sport and I like talking to him. When I was going through my toughest phase, he spoke to me and give me a different perspective. He has a nice family and beautiful children and I wish him all the best,” Virat Kohli said.
Abhishek, Nayyar who is currently working with Kolkata Knight Riders, is close to Karthik. He also heaped massive praise on the batter and even revealed about their conversations when Dinesh was going through challenging situations in his personal life and professional career. The 32-year-old Dipika said that had he been in Karthik’s place, she would have succumbed to the pressure. I think when things are meant to be, they happen. When we met in 2013, it was very fast we knew that we wanted to spend our lives with each other and I am guessing everything clicked,” Dipika said in a video on RCB’s social media.
“One of the things I have really learned from him is that if he doesn’t do well, he is dropped from the team, it’s just two or three days when he is in a lull, and then he is back on his feet, thinking about what to do next.“I feel that if anyone else was in that position, a lot of people would have given up long back. Even me, I am an athlete, seeing him in different positions in his career, if I was him, I would definitely have given up. But I think the do-or-die or never-give-up attitude has always been there,” Dipika said. Deepika, who is a professional squash player, urged Karthik to spend more time with her and their children now that he is retiring from the game. Apart from being a crucial part of the RCB setup in the last couple of seasons, Karthik also had a decent time while donning the Indian jersey. Although he was never a regular in the national setup, his career lasted 20 long years where he played 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 60 T20Is.
