Dinesh Karthik has perfectly adopted the role of finisher in Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) lineup. Karthik has won two 'Player of the match' awards so far. The wicketkeeper-batter's form is such that he has been backed by current and former cricketers to be included in India's T20 World Cup side for later this year. The latest to join the list is former RCB star AB de Villiers who announced his retirement after the last season.
“The form he is at this moment and he has already won RCB 2-3 games. He looks like he is in the form of his life. I don't know where that comes from because he hasn't played a lot of cricket. But man, he looks in good form and he plays around the wicket 360 degrees. He almost makes me feel like I want to go back and play some cricket again, watching him play. He gets me excited, plays under pressure in the middle order and he's got a lot of experience and if he keeps his form up there is a good chance that RCB are going a long way up," De Villiers told VUSport Streaming.
Karthik has scored 197 runs from six games including an unbeaten half-century in the previous match. He has only been dismissed once. Also, the veteran batter has maintained an astonishing strike rate of 209.57. Karthik's presence in the middle-order is one of the main reasons why RCB have won four out of six games are placed fourth on the points table.
“I was incredibly surprised and I didn't expect it. I have always known that he is a very capable player, a nitty-gritty kind of a guy. He likes the high pressure situations and he's a busy player at the wicket. But he hasn't played a lot of cricket. The last time I saw him before IPL he was commentating in the UK. He wasn't playing a lot of domestic cricket and I though he is possibly at the end of his career finishing. But he surprised us all I think with the intent and energy,” the former South African skipper added.
Earlier Karthik was picked for Rs 5.50 crore in the IPL 2022 mega auctions after a bidding war with Chennai Super Kings (CSK). RCB were criticised for going after the Tamil Nadu-born wicketkeeper-batter despite two below par seasons for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
