Dinesh Karthik has been quite a superhit name in the Indian echelons for a while now, given his heroics in the Nidahas Trophy finals, or may it be his wordplay with the mic in his hand, even a couple of ordinary seasons for the Kolkata Knight Riders couldn’t dent his value in the mega-auction.
He was roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL 2022 auction and is expected to play an elemental role in shaping up the team’s fortunes in the upcoming edition.
The first and foremost question that arrives here is why did the RCB buy Dinesh Karthik for IPL 2022, when his last couple of seasons witnessed a vertiginous slump in his form? Were they out of their minds or did their cricketing nous go for a walk?
The answer is pretty simple and there are actually reasons to believe why he can be quite successful in his second stint for the RCB.
The first and foremost reason for him being bought is his towering presence behind the stumps. With Srikar Bharat, AB de Villiers and Josh Phillipe out of the equation for IPL 2022, RCB needed someone to keep their timbre and who better than the man who has the second-highest number of dismissals in the entire tournament with 147 dismissals from 196 games.
With 115 catches, Dinesh Karthik is as safe as houses behind the timbre while his lightning-fast reflexes have seen him affect 32 stumping to date. With such an enriching experience, he would undoubtedly be the first pick for the RCB in IPL 2022.
Now coming to the most important part of his selection by the franchise, his batting skills will be under the radar after two failed seasons with Kolkata Knight Riders. They say numbers never lie and in the cruel fabric of cricket, in all probability they are correct. But at the same time, a few changes can bring about wonders.
Since we are talking about Royal Challengers Bangalore, a couple of changes and wonders in the same statement, it definitely won’t hurt to mention Glenn Maxwell. After a devastating season where he failed to strike a single six, he punched magically above the minimal weights of heightened expectations imposed upon him to become RCB’s highest scorer.
Similarly, if we try and look at Karthik’s recent batting exploits, relying on him to deliver those sustained knocks is kind of an over-burdened ask, especially with the minimal amount of cricket that he plays. However, given his aggressive batting flair, if you would want him to just come out and strike, you are in the right place.
While batting for Kolkata Knight Riders, a lot of responsibilities were shoved on his shoulder as Kolkata’s middle-order hardly clicked and he was expected to deliver at least 7-8 overs of decent batting with the tail to follow. However, for RCB, he is going to appear solely for his hitting prowess as the innings building responsibility will fall on the top three and they are pretty names, to be honest, followed by some exciting middle-order batting.
Let’s say Dinesh Karthik comes out at number five with five to six overs remaining and Harshal and Hasaranga still to follow, that is exactly his ball game where he can conjure those massive hits and propel the score by leaps and bounds.
Once again, if one believes that Dinesh Karthik would be doing this day in day out, it is kind of a pipe dream to blow at but if one is practical enough, expecting him to deliver in 8-9 games out of 14 is a pretty decent ask.
Only time will tell how successful he can be but going by the preceding reputation of Dinesh Karthik, he may actually be a decent hit for the Royal Challengers Bangalore who will continue their quest for the hallowed IPL title.
