CPL 2019: Dinesh Karthik tenders unconditional apology after being present in TKR’s dressing room

Dinesh Karthik, the Indian wicket-keeper batsman, was recently seen in the Trinbago Knight Riders’ (TKR) dressing room during the 2019 edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The veteran was spotted, sitting alongside head coach Brendon McCullum in TKR’s first match against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain in Trinidad.

The cameras focussed on him plenty of times where he was wearing the Trinbago jersey. The 34-year-old Karthik’s actions didn’t go down well with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by any stretch of the imagination. The world’s richest cricket board was forced to issue a show cause notice to Karthik, asking why his central contract shouldn’t be cancelled.

Never participated in TKR related activities, says Dinesh Karthik

After all the chaos, Karthik has tendered an unconditional apology for not asking for BCCI’s permission before attending the match. He said that he wasn’t involved in any sort of activity in the TKR camp. It was also learned that he went there on the request of McCullum.

“I wish to tender unconditional apology for not seeking permission from BCCI prior to embarking on this visit. I wish to reiterate that I have neither participated in any TKR related activities nor played any role whatsoever for TKR,” the Tamil Nadu cricketer was quoted as saying in an apology letter as per The Times of India (TOI).

Interestingly, Karthik and McCullum are set to work for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Even as Karthik has been the KKR skipper for the last two seasons, McCullum, also a former New Zealand cricketer, has been appointed as the franchise’s head coach last month. Baz has replaced Jacques Kallis, who left the team along with Simon Katich.

As far as Karthik’s recent international commitments are concerned, he was a part of the national squad for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. There was a lot of debate over who among Karthik and Rishabh Pant should be selected, but it was Karthik, got the nod in the initial squad.

However, he couldn’t live up to expectations and was left out of the limited-overs squad for the T20I and ODI series in the West Indies. He isn’t a part of the squad for the T20I series versus South Africa as well. Last year, Karthik lost his spot from the Test team and was replaced by Pant.