Dinesh Karthik To Bid Farwell To His IPL Career Before Hanging Up His Boots On International Career

Dinesh Karthik is reportedly set to conclude his IPL career after the upcoming 2024 season, with the likelihood of announcing his retirement from international cricket shortly thereafter. The 17th edition of the IPL is scheduled to kick off on March 22, featuring a match between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Chennai.

The experienced Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, who has played a crucial role for RCB in the last two seasons after being acquired for 5.5 crore in the auctions, is expected to make his retirement plans public after completing his IPL commitments.

An undisclosed source from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) spilled the beans, “This 2024 edition will be his (Dinesh Karthik’s) last IPL. He will decide his international retirement after the IPL.”

Despite his recent absence from the Indian team since the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, Karthik has remained a consistent performer for RCB. With a career spanning six franchises, including Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions, Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers, Karthik has accumulated 242 IPL appearances, securing the third spot in the all-time list behind MS Dhoni (250) and Rohit Sharma (243). Impressively, he has missed only two IPL games across all his franchise stints.

Dinesh Karthik is part of an exclusive group of seven cricketers who have been playing in the IPL since its inception in 2008, joining the ranks of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, and Manish Pandey.

Karthik’s IPL journey has been diverse, commencing with Delhi Daredevils in 2008, followed by stints with Kings XI Punjab in 2011, two seasons with Mumbai Indians, a return to Delhi in 2014 for a significant ₹12.5 crore, a tenure with Royal Challengers in 2015, and subsequent spells with Gujarat Lions in 2016-17. He then spent four seasons with the Kolkata Knight Riders, leading them to the IPL playoffs in 2018 and securing a fifth-place finish in the points table in 2019.