Dinesh Karthik: Kohli is an emotional, caring person; Dhoni ‘wowed’ me

Karthik said Kohli’s biggest ability is to stay grounded off the field despite achieving so much in his career.

Dinesh Karthik is a wicketkeeper-batter with IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. | Photo Credit: SPORTZPICS

Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper-batter, has seen Virat Kohli up close while sharing the dressing room with the batting talisman in the Indian team and IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore.

While speaking on the RCB podcast ahead of the 16th edition of IPL, Karthik said Kohli’s biggest ability is to stay grounded off the field despite achieving so much in his career.

“What he has achieved as a person, I don’t think anybody has achieved it in the world of cricket for a very, very long time. His dominance for about close to a decade is unparalleled. We have to understand that there are three different formats, and playing three different formats itself is difficult and then there he is averaging 50 in all of them, travelling abroad scoring as well. I can speak about him a lot. He is very chill, very easy, with the bowlers, the young guys,” said Karthik.

Reflecting on the former India skipper’s personal traits, the 37-year-old gave an insight about Kohli, which was not known to the masses.

“I have a nice equation with Kohli, I think I really like him as a person. The way he’s able to handle the situation right now, a lot of credit to him for that, and he still has a smile on his face. I give him a lot of respect. The love and affection he’s getting from the world, he deserves it, and it is good to see him in good spirits. You know, he is a very, very emotional, caring, and reactive person,” added Karthik.

Karthik, who made his debut for India in 2004, also had a commentary stint and found his biggest accolade from the man he least expected from.

“My biggest accolade came from the person that I least expected from — MS Dhoni. He called me and said: ‘I really enjoyed the commentary. Very, very good. Well done.’ I was like, Wow, thank you so much. So, that is big, you know, obviously, he watches a lot of this sport. And so and to hear him say that was really good. And I was happy that you enjoyed my commentary,” said Karthik.