Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Dinesh Karthik, who has played for six franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) already, has revealed that he had been shocked when Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the IPL team from his home state, did not pick him in the inaugural season of the IPL.
Speaking on a Cricbuzz chat show with Harsha Bhogle, Karthik said CSK picking MS Dhoni over him was like a “dagger to his heart”.
“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,” Karthik said.
“Then I thought they’re going to pick me later. But it’s been 13 years and I’m still waiting for the elusive call from CSK,” laughed the KKR skipper.
Karthik said he had been convinced that CSK would bid for him in the inaugural IPL. Describing himself as “the best player in Tamil Nadu, the biggest name from Tamil Nadu playing for the country” at the time, Karthik said the only question he had in his mind before the auction was whether CSK would name him as captain.
Notably, CSK were seen bidding on Karthik with intent in the IPL 2018 auction, going up to 3.6 crore INR, before losing out to KKR.