Dinesh Karthik Reveals Hardik Pandya's Brutal Sledge and Recalls MS Dhoni's Big Compliment

Dinesh Karthik, who called time on his Indian Premier League (IPL) career, revealed that Hardik Pandya’s sledge when he came out to bat has stuck with him.

When asked about memorable banters DK had and something which that has stuck with him, he revealed “Every time I played against RCB and Virat Kohli caught my catch, ‘Ben Stokes’ came out of his mouth for sure. But that was a send-off.”

“Hardik Pandya sledged me saying ‘Abhi legspinner aaya, iska thank you hi hai‘ [Now a legspinner will come and it is Thank You time] Then I had to play a couple of shots and then he was like ‘Theek hai, thoda improve hogaya lag raha hai‘. [Looks like he’s improved a bit]. That was good,” DK recalled in an interview with Cricbuzz.

“He’s a good friend. He was also like ‘Commentator banke bhi thoda kaam kar raha hai‘. [Even after becoming a commentator, he’s working on his game] That was fun,” he added.

DK also recalled when Rohit Sharma teased saying ‘abhi World Cup khelna hai‘ [There’s a World Cup still to play].

“Rohit Sharma this year taunting me… unnecessarily giving me hopes,” he said jokingly.

Dinesh Karthik also recalled sledging Glenn Maxwell, who ended up being his teammate at RCB.

“I’ve had mostly cheeky conversations… I think I told Maxwell once: ‘They call him the Big Show but I think it’s going to be a short show boys’,” DK recalled.

As for the compliments he got during his playing days from his teammates and competitors, DK revealed: “There’s been a lot of outpouring of love… One for my cricket – Virat Kohli saying that he’d love me being part of the [RCB] team which was a great compliment. Dhoni said: ‘I’ve really enjoyed your commentary, DK. Very, very good.’ That’s about as big a compliment as you can get from Dhoni I guess.”

With his playing days over, DK will return to the commentary box at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

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