Dinesh Karthik – The Maverick of Dreams

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled off an amazing turnaround before eventually faltering against Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator to crash out of the tournament. Out of the many heroes of this season, RCB found another resurgent titan in Dinesh Karthik after a questionable 2023. DK rocked and rolled in stunning fashion, adding another bout of glorious numbers to his already shiny laurels.

With 257 matches in his repertoire, DK amassed 4842 runs at a strike rate of 135.36. He came back to RCB in 2022 and showed why he could still be a game-changer. In 2022, he smashed 330 runs at a strike rate of 183.33 while in 2024, he hammered 324 runs at a strike rate of 187.36.

Out of the crazy stats that defined 2024 for him in the Indian Premier League, one of them was that he played nine reverse scoops in IPL 2024 and that is one of the toughest shots to execute. However, when it came to our Finisher Supreme, he wasn’t a maverick making a living outside the ordinary but a very conventional batter with an extraordinary ken about what he was doing.

Apart from his unorthodox stance, Karthik’s stand against spinners was fearsome in IPL 2024. He faced 38 balls against the turners and whacked them for a staggering 63 runs at a strike rate of 165.78 and guess what he didn’t fall once against them.

These numbers are just a testimony to what DK pulled off at the ripe age of 38, soon to be 39 in seven days. The agility, the striking and the class shown by our Finisher Supreme was beyond ordinary. He transcended himself into the realm of extraordinary to such a magnitude that he got himself a particular position to bat in. That is a legacy unparalleled unless you are an opener.

To finish IPL 2024, he capped things off with a tally of 326 runs at a strike rate of 187, the highest this year for RCB if you keep Karn Sharma’s 10-ball burst aside. Not only was he handy with the bat but he was absolutely instrumental with the gloves on as he affected five dismissals, comprising four catches and a stumping.

With speculations about his farewell running wild, DK is still to officially call it a day in cricket. But at the moment, we can just sit back and savour the glorious showdown that our Finisher Supreme pulled off over the years in IPL.