'We were Hoping that He'd Come Good...': RCB Coach Sanjay Bangar Opens Up on Dinesh Karthik's Poor Patch

Dinesh Karthik had established himself as a finisher for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) last year. His match-winning knocks won the trust of the franchise and as a result, he was retained for the IPL 2023. But unlike in 2022, he had struggled to score runs in almost every game. On Sunday, Karthik fell for a duck, his 17th such instance in the history of the competition, as RCB crashed out of the tournament following a six-wicket defeat to Gujarat Titans.

Karthik’s failure with the bat in IPL 2023 hurt Bangalore a lot, apart from meagre returns from other middle-order batters as well. Last year, Karthik scored 330 runs at a strike rate of 183.33 in 16 matches and helped the side get desired finishing touches to their innings, which also paved his way into India’s squad for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

Speaking at the post-match presser on Sunday, RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar feels that things just were ‘not clicking’ for veteran wicketkeeper-batter in IPL 2023.

“We tried to define the role for him. We made sure that he was walking in at the moments or in the phases where his strengths could have been maximised. And he had an outstanding season (last year). So, I don’t think that his efforts or his preparation, or the role clarity that we gave was different last season. It’s just that it didn’t click this season,” said Bangar in the post-match press conference.

“More than anybody, if there’s one guy who would be disappointed the most, it’s Dinesh. Because he prides himself as a professional and wants to contribute to the team’s cause. So we could see it in him. Even till today’s game, we were hoping that he would come good. But that wasn’t meant to be. So we live and we learn and move ahead,” he added.

RCB’s defeat at the hands of GT made way for Mumbai Indians in the final four. The five-time champions will face Lucknow Super Giants in the eliminator on Wednesday. The first qualifier will see reigning champions Gujarat Titans locking horns with Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on Tuesday.