"It's a huge move"- AB de Villiers breaks silence on Dinesh Karthik's appointment as RCB mentor and batting coach
Published - 04 Jul 2024, 02:57 PM | Updated - 04 Jul 2024, 03:04 PM
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Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers opened up about Dinesh Karthik's appointment as batting coach and mentor for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise. AB de Villiers stated that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru made a 'huge and right move' for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season.
The Royal Challengers appointed recently retired wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik as their men's batting coach and mentor for the upcoming IPL season. The franchise announced a social media post on Monday, July 1. The wicketkeeper batter retired from all forms of cricket at the start of June.
Since retiring from cricket, Karthik has been active as an English commentator for the ICC, BCCI, and Sky Sports. Fans anticipated that DK might join the IPL commentary panel next year, but the RCB surprised many by naming him as coaching staff. He had been part of the RCB squad in the last three IPL seasons.
Dinesh Karthik As A Mentor And Batting Coach - AB de Villiers
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers praised Dinesh Karthik's appointment as batting coach and mentor for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. De Villiers noted that Karthik's calm and experienced presence would benefit the team in the upcoming season.
"Dinesh Karthik, RCB's new coaching staff alert. Dinesh Karthik putting up his hand. DK as a mentor and also batting coach in that RCB group. I think it's a huge move and right move for RCB. It's great to have that kind of experience, and this guy is a good human being. He's got the players' best interest at heart. You could see that's the way he plays his cricket, and he will be no different as a coach in that side, much-needed calmness and experience for team RCB and a lot to look forward to for the next season," AB de Villiers said.
Dinesh Karthik played a total of 60 matches for RCB over four seasons. The right-handed batter scored 937 runs at an average of 24.66 and a strike rate of 162.96 during his time with the Bengaluru-based team. He scored 326 runs in 13 innings at an average of 36.22 and a strike rate of 187.35 in this year's tournament.
The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer is the 10th-highest run-scorer in the history of the tournament. The 39-year-old scored 4,842 runs in 257 matches at an average of 26.31 and a strike rate of 135.42, scoring 22 half-centuries with a best score of 97*. He secured an IPL title with the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2013 season.
Dinesh Karthik played 26 Test matches, 94 ODIs, and 60 T20 internationals for the Indian cricket team in his career. He scored 1,025 runs, 1,752 runs, and 686 runs across the three formats, respectively. Additionally, Karthik has extensive experience in T20 cricket, playing 401 matches and scoring a total of 7,407 runs.
