The 38-year-old is eagerly anticipating the possibility of the play-offs taking place at his home ground in Chennai.
Experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik expressed his satisfaction with his performance in the IPL opener, despite facing limited game time and preparation due to his commentary commitments. Since the last IPL season, Karthik had only participated in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, making his recent innings even more impressive.
Juggling his commentary duties during the India-England Test series made finding time for training challenging for Karthik. However, the veteran player managed to make an impact in his final IPL season by scoring an unbeaten 38 off 26 balls for RCB against CSK on Friday night. Karthik acknowledged feeling rusty in the middle, but his contribution helped RCB reach a total of 173 for six.
"It's been extremely challenging, doing a bit of commentary and to keep practising cricket between Test matches and in between the time that I get, it's been a lot of hard work.
"So, I am happy that Game 1 has gone positively for me, and it feels good to score some runs," Karthik told reporters after the game.
The 38-year-old is eagerly anticipating the possibility of the play-offs taking place at his home ground in Chennai. He is hopeful that he will have the opportunity to return to Chepauk to play his final IPL game.
"Time will tell, I guess. I genuinely wish it's not because the last couple of (playoff) games will be here, so I could be back for that, which could then be my last (here)," he said when asked if it could be last game in Chennai.
The defending champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), comfortably chased down a total of 174 on a favorable batting track. CSK's pacer, Mustafizur Rahman, delivered his best IPL performance, taking 4 wickets for 29 runs to make a significant impact.
Karthik expressed admiration for the talented left-arm pacer from Bangladesh, highlighting his exceptional performance in the match.
"He bowled brilliantly. He showed his skills in all the three spells," he reckoned.
"He is bowling a lot quicker than he normally does and hits the right lengths. The slower balls came out well. It was a very good pitch. Not the usual slow Chepauk turner that we are visualising in our mind.
"The ball skid on a lot more, and it was good for batting, and he (Rahman) bowled well. What makes it tough is that he can bowl at 138/139 (kmph), and then he has a slower one, which is very deceptive. And he bowls it at 121/125 (km/h), which makes it hard to line him up.
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 "'Could be the last': Dinesh Karthik hints at IPL retirement after RCB loss vs Chennai Super Kings")
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