Former Indian and Royal Challengers Bengaluru wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has been named as the new batting coach and mentor of the RCB for IPL 2025. His appointment came after his retirement announcement after the IPL 2024.
Dinesh Karthik Returns to RCB After Retirement
Dinesh Karthik who played for RCB in IPL 2024 retired after the Eliminator game against Rajasthan Royals which Bengaluru lost by four wickets and got eliminated from the tournament.
Dinesh Karthik returned to RCB in IPL 2022 and became one of the fan favourites in his last three seasons with the franchise. DK scored 796 runs in his last three seasons of the cash-rich league.
With the benefit of the ‘Impact Player‘ rule, RCB utilised him as an explosive death-over specialist. While everyone was left heartbroken on missing Dinesh Karthik in red and blue, the franchise made a surprise announcement by including him in the support staff list.
“Welcome our keeper in every sense, Dinesh Karthik, back into RCB in an all new avatar. DK will be the Batting coach and Mentor of RCB Men’s team!,” RCB made an official announcement on their social media.
Welcome our keeper in every sense, 𝗗𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗸, back into RCB in an all new avatar. DK will be the 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 of RCB Men’s team! 🤩🫡
You can take the man out of cricket but not cricket out of the man! 🙌 Shower him with all the… pic.twitter.com/Cw5IcjhI0v
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) July 1, 2024
In a recent interview with a cricket website, Karthik spoke about wanting to give back to the game by becoming a coach.
“Coaching and broadcasting is what I’m thinking I’ll mix in the foreseeable future. It’s not as simple as it looks. But I must admit, a few of the players who’ve played in RCB itself are very keen to come and work with me in Chennai. So, that is a positive. It’s very exciting,” he had told.
Dinesh Karthik made his IPL debut in the inaugural edition of the tournament and never skipped an IPL season. In his career, Dinesh Karthik has played 257 IPL matches and scored 4842 runs at a strike rate of 135.36 which includes 22 half-centuries.
