NEW DELHI: Dinesh Karthik, who recently retired from all forms of cricket including the Indian Premier League, on Friday, labelled Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans greater than icon Virat Kohli, acknowledging their love and support for the franchise and him.
Karthik's IPL journey came to an end on Wednesday after RCB lost the Eliminator clash against Rajasthan Royals, crashing out of the title race.
Karthik represented RCB for four years during his IPL career -- in 2015 and 2022-24.
"RCB has been extraordinary. RCB basically means -- the fans. There is nothing else that I can think of when I think of RCB. Yes, Virat Kohli is a very, very big name and it's a very large part of RCB but it think the fans are even bigger than that, literally because the amount of love I received, I sometimes feel that 2022 T20 World Cup when I did get picked, it was because of RCB fans that I got picked. There was such a huge wave of people saying DK has to be there. I will never forget it," said Karthik in a video posted by RCB.
Karthik also hailed teammate Kohli, pointing out he learned a lot from him and has huge respect for the RCB star.
"I've always been an admirer and well wisher of Virat Kohli. I learned a lot from him. I'm a big fan of him, he's one of the greatest ever," said Karthik.
In IPL 2024, Karthik featured in 15 matches and notched up 326 runs at a strike rate of 187.35.
On Friday, Karthik was also named in the commentary panel list for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Americas, starting June 2.
