"He sat me down a couple of times and gave me a very honest explanation" - Virat Kohli recalls Dinesh Karthik's advice during struggles in IPL 2022
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star Virat Kohli recalled teammate Dinesh Karthik helping him with an honest conversation during a torrid IPL 2022 campaign. Karthik played his final IPL game when RCB were knocked out of IPL 2024 by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator.
Karthik, 38, had announced ahead of the season that he would bid farewell to the IPL after the 2024 edition. Kohli and other RCB players paid tribute to Karthik with a guard of honor after the RR clash.
In a video posted by RCB on the Twitter handle, Kohli said of Karthik:
"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."
He added:
"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."
Virat Kohli scored only 341 runs at an average of under 23 and a strike rate of 116 in 16 games in IPL 2022.
It was Karthik's first season on return with RCB after a one-year stint with them in 2015.
"Hyper-active, confused person" - Virat Kohli on his first meeting with Dinesh Karthik
Virat Kohli recalled his first impression of Dinesh Karthik during the 2009 Champions Trophy in South Africa and how he was hyper-active and all over the place.
While Kohli debuted for India in 2008, Karthik had been part of the national setup from 2004.
"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. 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," said Kohli.
Karthik played 180 games for India across all formats and scored over 3,000 runs with a century and 17 half-centuries.
The 38-year-old also enjoyed a tremendous farewell season in the IPL this year, scoring 326 runs at an average of 36.22 and a strike rate of 187.35 in 15 outings.