Chennai: Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik on Saturday announced his retirement from all forms of competitive cricket after two decades of playing for the country.
While his retirement was on cards after Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s ouster from the IPL Eliminator, Karthik chose his 39th birthday to make his decision official.
“Having given plenty of thought for sometime now, I have decided to move on from playing competitive cricket. I officially announce my retirement and put my playing days behind me as I square up for the new challenges that lie ahead,” Karthik wrote on ‘X’.
Much like his long-time rival MS Dhoni, Karthik shared a collage of photos from his playing days with his retirement post. Karthik played 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 60 T20Is for India between 2004 and 2022 in a career that spanned 19 years. Notably, Karthik had made his international debut before MS Dhoni, but had a stop-start career at the highest level due to the latter’s consistent run.
Despite having been in and out of the senior national team, Dinesh Karthik never lost hope and kept coming back, earning the selectors’ attention, more often than not.
Karthik is part of the T20 World Cup commentary panel, having established himself as one of the sought-after voices behind the mic over the last few years.
Karthik scored 1025 runs in Tests, 1752 runs in ODIs and 686 runs in T20Is with a century to his name. Karthik returned to the Test team in 2018 after an eight-year gap and played 3 Tests for India that year, underlining his ability to keep working hard on his skills.
His white-ball comebacks have been even more special. After the 2019 World Cup heartbreak, it looked like Karthik’s international career was all but over. However, after a sensational IPL in 2022, Karthik returned to the senior national team and even played the T20 World Cup that year. Karthik played 28 T20Is in 2022.
Karthik attributed his comeback to RCB, thanking the franchise for the support in the IPL 2022 season in which he scored 330 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 183.
Karthik signed off his IPL career with another stellar campaign, scoring 3256 runs in 15 matches for RCB at a strike rate of 187.36.
Notably, RCB head coach Andy Flower had hinted Karthik might play a few more T20 leagues before hanging up his boots. However, it seems the wicketkeeper-batter has decided to call time on his career despite being in good form with the bat and with the gloves.
Dinesh Karthik will finish his IPL career with 4842 runs in 257 matches, having hit 22 fifties. Karthik finished in the top 10 run-getters list in the history of the IPL.
The wicket-keeper batter has represented six teams throughout his IPL career. He started off with Delhi Daredevils in 2008 before moving to Punjab in 2011. He spent the following two seasons with Mumbai before going back to Delhi in 2014. RCB bagged him in 2015 and he played for Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017 before spending four seasons with KKR, whom he led as well. Karthik returned to RCB in 2022 and aced the finisher’s role to perfection.
Karthik’s contribution to Tamil Nadu cricket is noteworthy. While scoring over 9000 runs in first-class cricket, over 7000 runs in 260 List A games, Karthik was a regular member of the state side. Karthik led Tamil Nadu to a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy triumph in 2021 and hit a match-winning hundred in the final in their Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph in 2016-17.
. Karthik has been one of the finest mentors for young cricketers in Tamil Nadu and the state unit will only look to use his services more in the future.
