Dinesh Karthik: The IPL Survivor Who Never Stands Still

Even at 38, he found new ways to worry bowlers and fielding captains in IPL. Who knows what heights his India career might have reached had Dhoni not happened to it?

A Career of Remarkable Length

Dinesh Karthik has competed with Parthiv Patel, Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Pant, Samson and scores of others, and kept himself in the conversation, season after season, always moving with the times, never standing still.

• Dinesh Karthik is one of the IPL's great survivors.
• He's featured in every season, and played more matches than anyone other than Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
• He's been a vital member of six different dressing rooms.

Evolving with the Format

Karthik has always had elite T20 skills, and he's always kept adding to them, evolving with the format and staying relevant, season after season.

• In IPL 2024, the reverse scoop brought Dinesh Karthik 21 runs, including five fours.
• He's played the shot more often than anyone else this season, and it's brought him 21 runs off eight non-wide balls, including five fours, at a strike rate of 262.50.
• He's also found ways to combat a long-standing weakness against spin.

A Full-Time Commentator and Part-Time Cricketer

So good were Karthik's numbers through IPL 2024 that it would have been perfectly reasonable for India to pick him as a left-field selection in their squad for the T20 World Cup. It just so happened that they had, in Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson, two other excellent candidates.

Dinesh Karthik IPL Stats
Matches	228
Runs	6586
Average	36.49
Strike Rate	140.17
High Score	112