Dinesh Karthik, the wicket-keeper batsman for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, bid farewell to the Indian Premier League with his final Eliminator match against the Rajasthan Royals.
As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were eliminated from the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday, one of the greatest ambassadors of Indian cricket, Dinesh Karthik, bid farewell to the league. Karthik's final T20 league match was against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator, when the veteran wicket-keeper batsman decided to move on. After the team's tournament exit, RCB players presented Karthik with a guard of honour and then shared a lovely video with an interview with Karthik's wife, Deepika Pallikal.
The RCB-shared video opens with an interview featuring former captain Virat Kohli, who talks about his 2009 first meeting with Karthik.
"The first time I met DK, I remember we were playing in South Africa if I am not wrong in the Champions Trophy 2009. It was the first time I shared the change-room with Dinesh and I found him to be very amusing, I would say hyper-active, confused person, most of the time he was moving all over the place, never stopping. That was my first impression of Dinesh," Kohli stated in the video.
"Outstanding talent, brilliant batter to watch and my first impression and present-day impression are not far apart. Just that he has become wiser and calmed down a lot," he added.
Along with praising Karthik's integrity and bravery, Virat also recounted a fascinating story from 2022 in which the former didn't have the finest IPL season. The batter who was keeping wicket took him aside and offered a frank assessment of what might be wrong.
"Off the field, I have had some nice and interesting conversations with him. He is a wise man and has great knowledge about a lot of things, not just cricket. I have thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with him. Even in that phase in 2022 when I did not have a great IPL season, I was struggling for confidence, he sat me down a couple of times and gave me a very honest explanation of how he is seeing things and maybe I am not able to see them myself," Kohli noted.
"So, I just like his honesty and courage to go and speak to anyone about things that he dearly feels about. And that I think is the most special thing for me when it comes to Dinesh and that's one thing I have always cherished about him. That's why we get along well," Kohli commented.
Subsequently, Deepika Pallikal, Karthik's wife, revealed some of the cricketer's most memorable memories in the video, but she also acknowledged that it would be difficult for him to step away from the game. Deepika sobbed on television as she recapped the experiences.