One of the finest servants of Indian cricket, Dinesh Karthik said goodbye to the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were knocked out from the competition on Wednesday. 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, before sharing a beautiful video in which Karthik’s wife Deepika Pallikal was also interviewed.
The video shared by RCB starts with an interview with Virat Kohli where the franchise’s former skipper recalls his first interaction with Karthik in 2009.
“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 times he was moving all over the place, never stopping. That was my first impression of Dinesh,” Kohli said 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.
Virat also lauded Karthik’s honest and courage as he shared an interesting anecdote from 2022 when the former didn’t have the best of IPL. It was the wicket-keeper batter who sat him down and given an honest perspective about what could be going wrong.
“Off the field, I have had some really nice and interesting conversations with him. He is wise man, 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 really 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 said.
“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 really really well,” Kohli added.
Later in the video, Karthik’s wife Deepika Pallikal shared some memorable moments from the cricketer’s career, while admitting that it would be tough for him to move on from the game. As Deepika shared the moments, she broke down on camera.
DK, We love you!
Not often do you find a cricketer who’s loved by everyone around him. DK is one, because he was smart, humble, honest, and gentle! Celebrating @DineshKarthik‘s career with stories from his best friends and family! #PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #WeLoveYouDK pic.twitter.com/fW3bLGMQER
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 24, 2024
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.
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