“He’s literally carried team India in the last 10 years”: Dinesh Karthik exclaims Virat Kohli’s mastery over the game has been second to none in the past decade

When the Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik had played a scintillating 30-run cameo off mere eight deliveries against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2022, Virat Kohli had welcomed him inside the RCB dressing room by bowing before him in adulation.

During an interaction with Danish Sait in the RCB podcast a day ago, Karthik was asked whether or not he had a sense of validation after Kohli reacted the way he did post his innings. In the larger scheme of things, Kohli’s reaction was pertaining the wicket-keeper batter’s consistency during the season till that point, where he had played the role of his team’s finisher nearly flawlessly.

While Karthik remarked that it was Kohli’s emotional side which perhaps had propelled him to react in that manner, there was nothing more to it in terms of getting acknowledged or validated from one of the best batters in the world.

Dinesh Karthik exclaims Virat Kohli’s mastery over the game has been second to none

Karthik in fact, went on to remark that the credit should go to Virat for reacting that way, considering the fact that how he has went about excelling in what he has done for the Indian team, especially in the past decade.

“When Virat reacted like that, credit must not be given to me. I think the credit must be given a lot to him, because of his graciousness, you know what he has achieved as a person, everyone understands. He’s literally carried team India in the last 10 years and his consistency and mastery over the game, I don’t think anybody has achieved it in the world of Cricket for a very, very long time. His dominance for about close to a decade, that is unparalleled I think,” remarked Karthik during the podcast.

Karthik ends the season with highest strike rate; Kohli averages a paltry 22.73

Scoring 330 runs across 16 innings at a strike rate of 183.33, Karthik ended the season as the batter with the highest number in that department, with Glenn Maxwell taking the second spot with a strike rate of 169.10.

Kohli, on the other hand, despite ending the season as RCB’s second-highest run getter with 341 runs across 16 innings, could average mere 22.73 with the help of a couple of half-centuries.