Veteran wicket-keeping batter Dinesh Karthik joked about 2024 being a ‘World Cup year’ following his match-winning knock against Punjab Kings. Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat PBKS by 4 wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to register their first win in IPL 2024. Karthik played a heroic knock of 28 runs off 10 balls to guide RCB to victory at home. The 38-year-old last been in great form this season, scoring 66 runs in two matches without being dismissed even once.
A day after their win over Punjab Kings, Karthik took to social media platform ‘X’ to joke about 2024 being a World Cup year. Karthik last represented India in the 2022 T20 World Cup where they were knocked out in the semi-finals following a 10-wicket drubbing from eventual-champions England. Karthik scored just 14 runs in three innings in the T20 World Cup and was dropped for India’s semi-final against England, being replaced by Rishabh Pant.
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“Me seeing those ‘It’s a world cup year’ memes,” Karthik posted on ‘X’.
The 38-year-old journeyman is having a resurgence in IPL 2024 following a dismal display last season, where he could manage scoring just 140 runs in 13 matches at an average of 11.67 while striking at 134.62. This came after he was dropped from the Indian side following a poor T20 World Cup outing.
Since then, Karthik has shifted his focus to commentary duties and played in the 2023 Vijay Hazare Trophy for Tamil Nadu, scoring 245 runs in six innings at an average of 49 while hitting two half-centuries.
In IPL 2024, Karthik has played two crucial knocks for RCB, smashing an unbeaten 26-ball 38 against Chennai Super Kings before blazing a 10-ball 26 in a match-winning effort against PBKS in Bengaluru.
Chasing 176 runs against Punjab, Karthik played a crucial knock under pressure to help RCB register a 4-wicket win over PBKS. With 23 runs needed in the last two overs, Karthik calmly led RCB to victory by chasing the target down with four balls in hand. Karthik smashed Arshdeep Singh for a six and a four in the final over to win the game for his team in style.