13 years later still waiting for that elusive call from CSK, quips Dinesh Karthik

Karthik has already represented six franchises but CSK is not one of them. He revealed that 13 years down the road, he is still waiting for that elusive call from his home-town IPL franchise, CSK. 

Since the 2018 IPL, the Tamil Nadu batsman has been a skipper for the KKR side. In just his first season at the franchise, he took them to a third-place finish in the group stage, before they crashed out in the qualifiers. Unfortunately, in his second season, they could only finish as high as fifth on the points table. 

“But it’s been 13 years and I’m still waiting for the elusive call from CSK,” he said, reported Indian Express. 

He also went on to reveal that when the franchise picked MS Dhoni over him, it felt like the ‘biggest dagger to his heart.’ Under Dhoni’s leadership, CSK have won three IPLs alongside winning two Champions League. 

“The first name I saw picked (by CSK in the first IPL auction) was MS Dhoni, for 1.5 million. He was sitting right down the corner from me. He didn’t even tell me a word that he was going to be picked by CSK.”

“I guess he didn’t know, but that was the biggest dagger to my heart. Then I thought they’re going to pick me later.,” Karthik added.