Dinesh Karthik retirement: The experienced Indian wicket-keeper batsman has not played a Twenty20 international in over three years.
Dinesh Karthik, veteran India, and Royal Challenger Bangalore wicket-keeper batsman are in the spotlight following a match-winning effort against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in the current 15th Indian Premier League season.
Karthik is yet to be dismissed in the IPL 2022, scoring 90 runs in three innings at a fantastic strike rate of 204.54 with 11 fours and five sixes.
Karthik, who last played for Bangalore seven years ago, was re-signed by them for INR 5.5 crore at the blockbuster auction that preceded this season.
The 36-year-old veteran has played for a total of six IPL clubs in his career, making this the second time he has returned to a franchise for a second spell.
Dinesh Karthik retirement
Karthik hasn’t played international cricket since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Between 2004 and 2019, he represented India in 152 matches across all forms.
Karthik scored 6 (25) as part of a batting collapse in the first semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester after a perplexing batting promotion. Karthik was left out of the group that toured the West Indies after the World Cup because of an ODI failure.
Dinesh Karthik has openly indicated a desire to play the position of a finisher during the ICC T20 World Cup 2020, despite the fact that he has not to announce his retirement from any format (later moved to 2022 due to COVID-19).
His dismal IPL play with Kolkata Knight Riders, though, has been a key cause for his continued absence from national selections. Karthik has scored 392 runs in 29 innings for KKR since his last international match, with an average and strike rate of 17.82 and 128.95 respectively, including a solitary half-century, before being released ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
However, if Karthik continues to put up such strong performances for RCB in the IPL, another national recall might be on the cards.
Karthik, a regional stalwart with a two-decade career behind him, continues to score runs and take excellent catches behind the wickets for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket.
