With Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) losing IPL 2024 Eliminator to Rajasthan Royals (RR) by four wickets, on Wednesday (May 22) in Ahmedabad, it led to the end of their inspiring campaign. With one win in seven games, RCB were at the bottom but rejuvenated in style with six straight wins to enter the playoffs. Nonetheless, a defeat in the Eliminator ended their hopes of winning a maiden IPL trophy whereas it also led to the end of Dinesh Karthik’s IPL career.
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Karthik, who ended his IPL career with 4,842 runs in 257 matches, had a good run in IPL 2024 — amassing 326 runs in 15 games at an average of 36.22 and a strike rate of 187.36. After the end of his IPL career, DK received applause from RCB and RR while his fans also acknowledged his contributions over the years.
Karthik ended his IPL career as the wicketkeeper with second-most dismissals (174), only behind MS Dhoni (190). He won the IPL with Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013 and played an integral part of various other franchises such as the now-defunct Gujarat Lions (GL), Delhi Daredevils (DD) — now known as the Delhi Capitals (DC) — Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), etc.
For RCB, DK played the role of a finisher with aplomb and ended with 796 runs in three editions (since 2022).
Talking about the Eliminator, RR opted to bowl first at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium and rode on Avesh Khan’s three-fer to restrict RCB to 172-8. In reply, RR chased down the score with valuable knocks from Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer to win by four wickets with an over to spare.
RR will now face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 2, on Friday (May 24) in Chennai, with an aim to enter the IPL 2024 final. The finale will be held on Sunday (May 26), in Chennai, where KKR have already booked a spot.
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