Dinesh Karthik hints at IPL retirement and gets emotional guard of honor

Summary: Dinesh Karthik’s emotional guard of honor

Following the Eliminator in Ahmedabad, veteran wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik removed his gloves and was greeted by a guard of honor. After RCB's defeat to Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday, May 22, the veteran player embraced Virat Kohli emotionally.

Karthik removed his gloves and thanked the crowd's ovation following the painful loss in the playoffs match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Karthik keeps stating throughout the season that IPL 2024 might be his final IPL season as a player, although he has yet to officially announce his retirement from the IPL.

Dinesh Karthik also had an emotional guard of honor from his RCB teammates before leaving the field following their 4-wicket loss to the Royals. The RCB stars faced a terrible evening as their comeback streak came to an end. 

RCB were at the bottom of the standings halfway through the season, having won only one of their eight matches. However, RCB made it to the playoffs after winning six consecutive games, including a crushing loss to the 5-time champion Super Kings.

Dinesh Karthik is finishing his IPL career with 4842 runs in 257 matches, including 22 fifties. Karthik finished in the top ten all-time IPL run scorers. Karthik concluded the IPL 2024 season with 326 runs in 15 matches, once again proving himself as a finisher. 

Indeed, Karthik has put himself back in discussion for a position in the T20 World Cup squad. Indian captain Rohit Sharma even joked about Karthik's possibilities during an on-field exchange with the veteran wicketkeeper. However, he did not get picked in India’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. 

Throughout his IPL career, the veteran wicketkeeper has played for 6 teams. In 2008, he started off with the Delhi Daredevils, then played for Punjab in 2011. He spent two seasons with the Mumbai Indians before playing for Delhi again in 2014. RCB bagged him in 2015, and later he played two seasons for Gujarat Lions, then played four seasons for KKR, eventually coming back to RCB in 2022 and acing the role of finisher.