Dinesh Karthik makes me want to go back and play cricket again: AB de Villiers

Amazed by Dinesh Karthik’s performance at IPL 2022 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, former RCB star AB de Villiers has said that the 36-year-old makes him go back and want to play cricket again. De Villiers called him a 360-degree player and hailed his performance in the tournament.

Recently, Virat Kohli had praised Karthik for his splendid performances and said that De Villiers would feel proud seeing him finish games like that. Karthik has played the finisher’s role to perfection and has remained unbeaten in five of the six games played so far. The match-winning knocks produced by Karthik have been just outstanding.

“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,” De Villiers was quoted by India Today.

“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,” he added.

He surprised us all with the intent and energy: AB de Villiers

ABD said that he was dazed by Karthik’s game, majorly because the batter had not played cricket since IPL 2021. Karthik was not given a chance at the World Cup last year as he decided to start his commentary stint with the sport.

“I was incredibly surprised and I didn’t expect it. I have always known that he is a very capable player, a nitty-gritty kind of a guy. He likes the high-pressure situations and he’s a busy player at the wicket. But he hasn’t played a lot of cricket. The last time I saw him before IPL he was commentating in the UK. He wasn’t playing a lot of domestic cricket and I thought he is possibly at the end of his career finishing. But he surprised us all I think with the intent and energy,” he concluded.