Dinesh Karthik, who has been a prolific run-scorer for Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit, has never been picked by the Chennai Super Kings and as per the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, when the names were picked at the first auctions, he received a massive shock when he was not snapped up by the franchise from his home state.
Speaking on a Cricbuzz chat show with Harsha Bhogle, Karthik said CSK not picking him was like a “dagger to his heart”. Karthik has played for as many as six franchises in the IPL, but never for the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings.
“In 2008, I was in Australia, in the lead up to the auctions, Dinesh Karthik the person, was convinced that he was the biggest name from Tamil Nadu cricket to have played for the country. For sure, they (CSK) are going to pick me. Question is whether or not they are going to make me the captain or not, it was all going on in my head,” he said during the conversation.
“The first name I saw picked (by CSK in the first IPL auction) was MS Dhoni, for 1.5 million. He was sitting right down the corner from me. He didn’t even tell me a word that he was going to be picked by CSK. I guess he didn’t know, but that was the biggest dagger to my heart,” Karthik said.
“Then I thought they’re going to pick me later. But it’s been 13 years and I’m still waiting for the elusive call from CSK,” the wicket-keeper batsman said.
Dinesh Karthik was named captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders team in 2018 and he guided the team to the play-offs that season.
