Dinesh Karthik
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman and Kolkata Kight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik on Tuesday revealed the name of the Indian Premier League franchise he longs to join, saying that he has been waiting for 13 long years to get a call from that franchise. Karthik revealed the name while sharing a riveting auction story featuring MS Dhoni.
While picking his all-time IPL XI in conversation with Cricbuzz, Karthik recalled a story from the inaugural IPL auction where he was convinced that CSK would go or him given that he was already a big name in international cricket and that he was from Tamil Nadu.
"In 2008, I was in Australia and the auction was happening. In the lead up to that, I was convinced that the biggest name from Tamil Nadu who is also playing for the country...I'm sure they (Chennai Super Kings) are going to pick me. The question is whether they are going to make me the captain or not...that was going on in my head. And the first name they picked as Dhoni, for 1.5 million and he was sitting right around the corner with me. And he didn't even tell me that they are going to pick him. Probably he didn't know. But that was the biggest dagger to my heart. So I thought that they would pick me later. It's been 13 years and I am still waiting for that elusive call from CSK," said Karthik.
Karthik was eventually picked by Delhi Daredevils in the 2008 auction and he spent three years with that franchise before shifting base to Mumbai Indians. He was in fact the second-highest run-getter for Mumbai in their lead up to the 2013 trophy victory. He returned to Delhi in 2014, played for RCB in the next season, followed by two years at Gujarat Lions before being roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 where he was also named as the captain.
