Veteran India keeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik is having a late upsurge in his career and is once again knocking on the door on the national selectors after his thunderous performances in the first half of the IPL 2022.
In 7 matches for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Karthik has scored 210 and has been dismissed only once- but, more importantly, he’s smashed these runs at a strike rate of 205! RCB have won 5 matches so far, and DK played a significant role in four of these wins, bagging two Man of the Match awards.
Legendary RCB batsman AB de Villiers has been left in awe by this superb form of Dinesh Karthik who has filled the boots aptly of the South African who retired after last season.
Seeing Karthik’s sublime touch, AB de Villiers said that this has made him feel to want to come back and bat again.
“The form he’s in at the moment. He’s won RCB two or three games already. He looks like he’s in the form of his life. I don’t know where that’s come from. But, man, he looks in good form; he plays around the wicket – 360 degrees – really, almost makes me feel like I want to go back and play some cricket again watching him play,” AB de Villiers told VUSport in a video.
“So, he really gets me excited, he plays under pressure, he’s got a lot of experience. And if he keeps his form up, then RCB has got a good chance of going a long way up.”
Dinesh Karthik has surprised us all: AB de Villiers
The South African added that he didn’t expect such terrific performances from Dinesh Karthik, reasoning that Karthik took up commentary last year and the 36-year-old is in the last phase of his career. AB reckoned DK has surprised just as much everyone else like him.
“Not at all. Incredibly surprised; I didn’t expect it. I’ve always known that he’s a very capable player. He likes the high-pressure situation and is a busy player. But he hasn’t played a lot of cricket – I saw him commentating in the UK, wasn’t really playing a lot of domestic cricket and I thought he’s in the end of his career finishing up.
“But, he’s surprised us all, I think. The intent that he’s shown, the energy, the passion for the game – you can see it from a country mile away. And if a player plays like that – that kind of confidence, the passion and hunger – he’s always dangerous,” de Villiers added.
