Dinesh Karthik says Goodbye to IPL

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's experienced wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik said goodbye to the Indian Premier League after the defeat against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2024 Eliminator match. When RCB gave guard of honor to Karthik, Kohli hugged him.

After which Karthik's eyes became moist. During this, Dinesh Karthik looked very emotional while thanking RCB's fellow players and fans while leaving the ground. Although Karthik has not yet officially announced his retirement, but the sight seen after the match clearly shows that Dinesh Karthik has played his last IPL match.

Dinesh Karthik said goodbye to IPL after playing for almost 14 years. The eliminator against Rajasthan Royals turned out to be his last match in the competition. Even he played his debut match against this team. Karthik, who did not get a chance to bat on debut, scored 11 runs off 13 balls in the last match.

Karthik's last match saw his team Royal Challengers Bangalore lose by 4 wickets. In reply to Bengaluru's 172 runs, Rajasthan won with one over in hand. At the end of the match, Kohli's army gave him a guard of honour. As he left the field, Karthik raised his hand and signaled farewell to the fans.

Karthik got the team in 2008, the year the IPL started. He played his debut season for Delhi Daredevils. He was in this team till 2010, he also played for Daredevils in 2014. Apart from Daredevils, he has played for Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Karthik has played 257 matches in the IPL over a 14-year career, which is jointly the second most in the tournament. Rohit Sharma has played as many matches as him. Mahendra Singh Dhoni tops this list by playing 264 matches. Karthik has scored 4 thousand 842 runs in 234 innings of 257 matches, although he has not scored a century, he has scored a half-century in 22 innings.

Dinesh Karthik played for 6 teams in IPL

Dinesh Karthik has represented six teams in his IPL career. He started with Delhi Daredevils in 2008 before moving to Punjab in 2011. He spent the next two seasons with Mumbai before moving back to Delhi in 2014. RCB included in 2015. After this, he played for Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017 before spending four seasons. Then he came to the KKR team, he also led this team. Karthik returned to RCB in 2022 and played the role of finisher very well.

Made international debut before MS Dhoni

Interesting fact is that Karthik's debut in international cricket was before MS Dhoni. Dinesh Karthik made his Test debut against Australia in November 2004. He made his ODI debut on 5 September 2004 against England at Lord's. He made his T20 debut on 1 December 2006 against South Africa in Johannesburg.

Dhoni made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in Chennai in December 2005. Dhoni's ODI debut was in December 2004 against Bangladesh in Chattogram. However, the T20 debut of Dhoni and DK was in the same match, which was played against South Africa.

Dinesh Karthik's international cricket career

Dinesh scored 1025 runs while playing 26 tests, during which he also took 57 catches and 6 stumpings. While representing Team India in 94 ODIs, he scored 1752 runs, during which he also took 64 catches and 7 stumps. While playing 60 T20 matches, he scored 686 runs, in this format he also took 30 catches and 6 stumpings.