Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik has revealed that he was left heartbroken when Chennai Super Kings, the IPL team from his home state Tamil Nadu, picked Mahendra Singh Dhoni over him during the first players’ auction.
“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 told Harsha Bhogle on a Cricbuzz chat show.
“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,” he added.
Karthik was confident of being picked by CSK in the auctions as he was the best player from the state at the time and also the biggest name from Tamil Nadu to represent the state.
Karthik was eventually picked by Delhi Daredevils. He has since played for six IPL franchises but is yet to wear the yellow jersey of CSK.
In 2018, CSK came close to buying him in the auction and even bid Rs 3.6 crore but were beaten by KKR. Karthik has since been the captain of the Kolkata outfit.
The 2020 IPL has been suspended indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic with reports of BCCI looking for an October window to hold the competition.