IPL 2022: AB De Villiers Says Dinesh Karthik Inspires Him To Restart Playing Cricket

Dinesh Karthik has scored 210 runs for RCB across 7 matches in IPL 2022 so far. He has scored at a strike rate of 205 and an average of 210.

Aditya Kumar

Updated on: 20 April 2022 3:33 pm

AB de Villiers (L) feels Dinesh Karthik is in the form of his life.

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore player AB de Villiers, who called time on his cricket career in November 2021, said that the ongoing form of Dinesh Karthik is inspiring him to make a return to cricket field. He added that the 36-year-old RCB wicketkeeper-batsman is currently in the “form of his life”.

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It is worth noting that Karthik, who is currently playing for RCB in IPL 2022, has scored 210 runs across 7 matches for the franchise so far. He is the second-highest run-scorer for Bangalore this season, being only behind skipper Faf du Plessis. Karthik’s strike rate is 205 while he averages 210 as he remained not out in 6 of the 7 games.

Beyond the stats, the right-handed Indian batsman has played the role of finisher for RCB this year extremely well and has also bailed out the team on multiple occasions after the top-order failed to lay a solid platform.

“He almost makes me feel like I want to go back and play some cricket again, watching him play. He gets me excited, plays under pressure in the middle order and he’s got a lot of experience and if he keeps his form up there is a good chance that RCB are going a long way up,” de Villiers said while speaking to VUSport Streaming.

“The form he is at this moment and he has already won RCB 2-3 games. He looks like he is in the form of his life. I don’t know where that comes from because he hasn’t played a lot of cricket. But man, he looks in good form and he plays around the wicket 360 degrees,” he added.

Karthik, who last played for India in the country’s World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in 2019, has also expressed his desire to make a return to international cricket. He is willing to play the upcoming T20 World Cup for India.

Looking at his red-hot form, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also backed the player saying that the national selectors should ignore his age and rather keep his form in mind. Gavaskar added that Karthik can play the role of a finisher for India in the T20 World Cup that takes place in Australia in October-November.