Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is a former Indian international cricketer from Tamil Nadu, a wicketkeeper and batter whose career with the national team stretched from 2004 to 2022. Often in and out of the side, he is best remembered for the last-ball six that won the Nidahas Trophy final in 2018 and for reinventing himself as a specialist finisher in his late thirties. Since retiring he has been batting coach and mentor of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who won the Indian Premier League in 2025 and 2026.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik |
| Born | 1 June 1985, Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu |
| Age | 41 |
| Role | Wicketkeeper-batter |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| International career | 2004–2022 (26 Tests, 94 ODIs, 60 T20Is) |
| Domestic team | Tamil Nadu |
| IPL teams | Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Lions, Kolkata Knight Riders |
| Spouse | Dipika Pallikal (m. 2015) |
| Children | 2 sons |
Early Life
Karthik was born in Chennai. His father, Krishnakumar, had played club cricket in the city and, regretting that he had put studies first, coached his son from the age of ten. The family lived for some years in Kuwait, where his father worked. Back in Chennai he came through the Tamil Nadu age-group teams as a batter, took up wicketkeeping and made his first-class debut for the state in 2002.
International Career
Early years
He made his one-day debut against England at Lord’s in September 2004 and his Test debut against Australia in Mumbai two months later, at nineteen. The arrival of MS Dhoni soon took the wicketkeeper’s place, and for the rest of his career Karthik had to find other ways into the team.
He was player of the match in India’s first Twenty20 international, in Johannesburg in December 2006, and was part of the squad that won the first T20 World Cup in 2007. That year he opened the batting in Tests, scored his only Test hundred, 129 against Bangladesh at Dhaka, and was India’s leading run-scorer in the series win in England. He was also a member of the side that won the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Nidahas Trophy
In the final of a triangular T20 tournament in Colombo on 18 March 2018, India needed 34 from the last two overs against Bangladesh when Karthik came in. He hit 29 not out from eight balls, finishing with a flat six over extra cover off the final delivery with five needed.
Last act
He played in the 2019 World Cup. Dropped again, he worked as a television commentator, then earned a recall at thirty-seven after a remarkable IPL season as a finisher and played in the T20 World Cup of 2022.
Domestic and IPL
He captained Tamil Nadu to several titles in the one-day and Twenty20 competitions. In the IPL he played for six franchises across all seventeen seasons from 2008 to 2024, winning the title with Mumbai Indians in 2013 and captaining Kolkata Knight Riders from 2018 to 2020. He scored more than 4,800 runs in the league, and his strike rate for Bengaluru in 2022 and 2024 was among the highest of any batter. He retired from Indian cricket in June 2024.
After Retirement
Bengaluru appointed him batting coach and mentor, and the franchise won its first title in 2025 and retained it in 2026. In January 2025 he became the first Indian to play in South Africa’s SA20 league, for Paarl Royals. He is also a regular commentator for British and Indian broadcasters.
Personal Life
His first marriage ended in divorce in 2012. In 2015 he married the squash player Dipika Pallikal, and their twin sons were born in 2021. He has spoken openly about the difficult period in his life before he met her, and credits the Mumbai cricketer Abhishek Nayar with helping him rebuild his game and his confidence.
Featured image: Dinesh Karthik in November 2017. Photo by Anand Anil, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
