Dinesh Karthik gears up for second stint with RCB as franchise lands him for ₹5.5 crores at IPL 2022 Auction
The IPL 2022 Auction saw Dinesh Karthik return to the Royal Challengers Bangalore fold after the franchise lapped him up for ₹ 5.5 crores.
The Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batter has played for quite a few franchises in his IPL career and has now made it back to Bangalore after last suiting up for them in 2015.
The 2015 edition saw him score 141 runs from 16 matches. It might have been a forgettable run, but the side seems to have faith in the old warhorse to deliver in the upcoming season.
Not that RCB didn't face any competition in their quest to snap up Karthik's signature. The Chennai Super Kings felt a homecoming was in order for the veteran player and went toe-to-toe with Bangalore at the IPL 2022 Auction, but were outbid by the latter.
Karthik has played 213 IPL games and stacked up 4046 runs at an average of 25.77 and a strike rate of 129.72 that also included 19 fifties. Although he is out of the international squad, the gloveman has been a steady fixture in the IPL over the years.
Will Karthik be RCB's No.6 after being picked at the IPL 2022 Auction?
Karthik has scored a major chunk of his runs batting at No.4, but with Glenn Maxwell taking up that slot, Karthik will mostly slot down at the No. 6 position, which has seen him amass 608 runs from 32 innings.
His next best batting position is the No.3 slot, which is a possibility as he's scored 745 runs from 29 innings at an average of 26.61 at No.3.
He made his name as a hard-hitting batter when he played at the position for the Mumbai Indians in 2013, smacking 510 runs from 19 innings in Mumbai's victorious campaign.
Karthik joins Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel and Wanindu Hasaranga as players acquired by the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Day one of the IPL 2022 Auction thus far.