CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: In a tribute video posted by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Virat Kohli recalled his memories of Dinesh Karthik and spoke about the time in 2022 when the wicketkeeper-batter extended a helping hand when the former Indian captain was struggling for form. Karthik has not retired officially but it has been speculated that RCB’s last game in IPL 2024 where they lost to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator was his last game. He also received a guard of honour after the match.
Now RCB have paid tribute to their star player through a video.
Talking about the first time Kohli shared the dressing room with Karthin, the former RCB captain recalled that the lower-order batter was a “hyper-active” person but became calmer and wiser with age.
“First time I met DK, I remember we were playing in South Africa if I am not wrong in the Champions Trophy 2009. It was the first time I shared the change-room with Dinesh and I found him to be very amusing, I would say hyper-active, confused person, most of the times he was moving all over the place, never stopping. That was my first impression of Dinesh,” Kohli said in the video.
“Outstanding talent, brilliant batter to watch and my first impression and present day impression are not far apart. Just that he has become wiser and calmed down a lot.”
He also recalled how in 2022 DK tried to uplift Kohli’s morale when the batter suffered three duck dismissals in the IPL season and scored just 341 runs in 16 matches.
“Off the field, I have had some really nice and interesting conversations with him. He is wise man, has great knowledge about a lot of things, not just cricket. I have thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with him. Even in that phase in 2022 when I did not have a great IPL season, I was really struggling for confidence, he sat me down a couple of times and gave me a very honest explanation of how he is seeing things and maybe I am not able to see them myself,” Kohli shared.
“So, I just like his honesty and courage to go and speak to anyone about things that he dearly feels about. And that I think is the most special thing for me when it comes to Dinesh and that’s one thing I have always cherished about him. That’s why we get along really really well,” he added.
Besides being a successful name in IPL where he also captained Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Karthik played 18 years for India and took part in 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 60 T20Is.