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Cricket Players‘Tim David should be mentoring me in this tournament’: Dinesh Karthik relishes quirky role-reversal ahead of ILT20 debut
Dinesh Karthik joked that the roles almost seem reversed in the ILT20 now, given the kind of form Tim David has been in lately.
T20 leagues across the globe have grown into a major force in modern cricket, drawing players from every corner of the world who carve out time from their international commitments to participate. While the IPL remains the gold standard, tournaments like the ILT20 have also risen as strong franchise options for top players. It also opens the door for players who’ve stepped away from international cricket or the IPL but still have the drive to compete. Many of them use these leagues to show that age is no barrier in a format often viewed as a young player’s game, proving they still have the same hunger to perform.
Veteran India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik is a prime example. Although he has called time on both international cricket and the IPL, Karthik continues to feature in T20 leagues and will now turn up for the Sharjah Warriors in the upcoming ILT20 season. Karthik, who serves as a mentor for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, will also be lining up alongside one of RCB’s players in the league — Tim David.
Replying to the Hindustan Times in a selected media interaction, Karthik joked that the roles almost seem reversed in the ILT20 now, given David’s current form.
“Well, ideally I think the way he’s batting, I think the roles have reversed. He should be mentoring me in this tournament, and if that happens, it will be good for Sharjah Warriors," Sharjah Warriorz's Karthik told the Hindustan Times ahead of the next season of ILT20.
David has been in red-hot form this year for Australia, scoring 395 runs in 10 innings at a blistering strike rate of 197.50, including a century. His franchise run has been just as explosive — he topped the Abu Dhabi T10 charts with 393 runs in nine innings at a staggering 263.76 strike rate.
Reflecting on the shift from mentoring David at RCB to sharing a dressing room with him in the ILT20, Karthik said the dynamic barely changes. He explained that their bond is built more on mutual respect than labels, whether he’s guiding David as a coach or playing alongside him.
"But on a serious note, you've got to understand as a young player, it’s not so much a coach–player relationship. I think it’s more out of respect and whatever you do is more, for me at least personally, we draw a line where the respect is there, but at the same time whether I’m a player–coach or a player–player, the relationship doesn’t change too much on and off the field," he added.
Speaking about his rapport with David, Karthik said their connection goes beyond a typical mentor–player bond. He explained that their shared approach to batting made friendship the most natural dynamic between them, adding that with David’s current form, the roles have almost flipped, and he now has plenty to learn from him.
"And even when I did my work with Tim, there’s a lot of mutual respect, but one that I would say is a lot more friendly because, you know, at the end of the day, I might be slightly older than him, but looking at what he’s trying to do and it’s so aligned with what I have done a lot in my career. So I felt I could connect with him a lot better if I became a friend of his and I’ve looked at it from that point of view and that doesn’t change. And as I said, roles have reversed in a big way now. I think he’s got a lot more to offer me in this tournament and that’s fair to say," he said.
Dinesh Karthik keeps mum on IPL 2026 auction strategy
Karthik will also be in the same dressing room as former New Zealand pacer Tim Southee, and interestingly, both now work on the support staffs of IPL teams — one with RCB and the other with KKR. With the IPL auction nearing, some believe the presence of the two veterans in the same camp could draw attention from talent scouts, especially with players like Matheesha Pathirana also in the squad. Karthik, though, brushed aside any auction chatter, quipping that their conversations rarely move beyond 'fishing or helicopters'.
"It's a massive conflict of interest. Southee and me playing the same team. So we generally don't talk cricket, we talk fishing, or we try and speak about helicopters, things that don't involve cricket, so that he doesn't understand what I'm trying to think and I don't understand what he wants to do in the auction," Karthik said.
