At a book launch in 2013, Aakash Chopra recalled an incident from 2004. It involved two youngsters, who were looking to grab the same spot in India’s playing XI. MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik-four years apart in age-were part of a training session, but Chopra recalled how the former was bowling to the latter without the fear of competition.
“We told him see you want to bowl, but at some stage, you need to bat also because at some stage you will get the opportunity. He was not playing initially because Karthik was the first choice. He said, aapko bhi batting karna hai toh aapko bhi batting kara dunga, bowling toh mujhe karni hai (If you want to bat, I’ll bowl to you as well. But I want to keep bowling),” Dhoni had said. *
20 years since that incident and after a career that has seen the former trump the latter and become an icon of the game, Dhoni and Karthik will meet again on Saturday – perhaps for one final time – in Bengaluru.
In these two decades, Dhoni has become Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) Thala. Karthik has played for six Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, but not CSK, recently said that he was thankful to the Yellow Army for always trying to get him into their setup. Both players, 42 and 38 respectively, are on the last legs of their careers, which have traversed in two opposite directions in the IPL.
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Dhoni has etched his name as arguably the greatest IPL captain – the face of a franchise, which has loved him from day one. Since retiring from international cricket, he has led CSK to two titles in alternate years, even as his batting has been on the downward curve.
Karthik, along with Dhoni, has played every season of the tournament since 2008. Yet, he has never found a home. He has travelled the length and the breadth of the IPL, through Delhi Daredevils to Punjab Kings to Kolkata Knight Riders and now Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
His journey in the IPL began as a middle-order batter, but his best year came in as a top-order batter in 2013- 510 runs in 19 matches- which helped Mumbai Indians win the title. In his own words, the franchise not retaining him after his exploits remains his greatest regret.
“I don’t have many regrets in my cricket career – one will be the fact that I didn’t want to get retained in 2013, MI could have really helped me grow & become an even better player and second will be I couldn’t be part of CSK but I respect them a lot as they bid for me every time,” Karthik had told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
From being a predominantly middle-order batter, Karthik transformed his career to such an extent that he became a sought-after finisher, even with the Indian team when he was picked for the T20 World Cup in 2022.
There is a chance that both Dhoni and Karthik might come out to bat at the same number for CSK and RCB on Saturday. The Chinnaswamy stadium crowd have sung “DK! DK! DK!” in symphony whenever the RCB wicket-keeper batter has come out to bat. There is a definite chance that the chants for Dhoni would be louder on Saturday as during the IPL, India is his world and all of us live in that world.
“First like you said, it’s probably their last game. With No.7 or No.19 you never know, they might go on for longer. With DK, as you said, it’s been very special and continues to be so,” RCB fielding coach Malolan Rangarajan said at the press conference on Saturday.
What both Dhoni and Karthik do on Saturday, with the bat or with the gloves remains to be seen. But like in 2004, only one will get the chance to move forward and make more memories.
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