Delhi: What role is Dinesh Karthik playing in cricket at this time? Playing franchise cricket outside international cricket. This mention of Bhumika does not end here. He is a player but also a cricket commentator, a mentor and even this year when he joins the London Spirit team in the men’s The Hundred tournament, he will be a mentor as well as a batting coach. This is his first role as support staff with a franchise outside the IPL. No one else is playing such all-round roles. He has even played the role of both player and commentator in the same tournament.

Dinesh Karthik’s historic T20 career

In the ILT20 match played between Sharjah Warriors and Desert Vipers on 20 December 2025 in Dubai, Dinesh Karthik scored 3 runs in 5 balls. In a general context, the discussion of this match ends here but when we look at this match in the context of Dinesh Karthik, a very surprising record comes to the fore.

The first T20 that Dinesh Karthik played in his career was actually a T20 International. Today, can anyone think of directly joining the T20 International team? He played this match against South Africa in Johannesburg on 1 December 2006 and more than 19 years have passed, he is still playing T20 cricket. The tournament in Dubai ended for Dinesh Karthik as a player (as he was not in the squad for the December 26 match and Sharjah Warriors were eliminated from the tournament). In this way, Dinesh Karthik’s T20 career has been from 1 December 2006 to 20 December 2025 i.e. 19 years and 19 days and this is the longest T20 career of any Indian player.

By the way, let us tell you that Dinesh Karthik is number 2 in the Indian record for the longest T20 International career. From that match on 1 December 2006 to the last T20 International played against Bangladesh in Adelaide on 2 November 2022, his career lasted a total of 15 years and 336 days.

Now let’s return to the same T20 career record.

India’s top 5 players with longest T20 career

• 1. Dinesh Karthik Career of 19 years and 19 days: It has run from 1 December 2006 (against South Africa in Johannesburg) to 20 December 2025 (for Sharjah Warriors in ILT20 in Dubai).
• 2. Piyush Chawla 18 years 269 days: It has run from 3 April 2007 (for Uttar Pradesh in the Interstate T20 tournament) to 28 December 2025 (for Knight Riders in the ILT20 in Dubai).
• 3. Ajinkya Rahane 18 years 257 days: It has run from 3 April 2007 (for Mumbai in the Interstate T20 Tournament) to 16 December 2025 (for Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy).
• 4. Karan Sharma 18 years 249 days: It has run from 5 April 2007 (for Railways in the Interstate T20 Tournament) to 8 December 2025 (for Railways in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy).
• 5. Swapnil Singh 18 years 247 days: It has run from 3 April 2007 (for Baroda in the Interstate T20 Tournament) to 4 December 2025 (for Tripura in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy).