Dinesh Karthik was one of the main reasons behind Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) winning the IPL title for the first time in the 2025 season. He retired from professional cricket, but his mind is as sharp as ever, which helped the team progress. Recently, during the ongoing IPL 2026 season, the franchise shared an official video, entirely dedicated to one of their coaching members, Dinesh Karthik.
RCB and England cricket team opener Phil Salt is praising the cricket intelligence of the former Indian keeper-batsman in the video. Salt explains why Karthik is the mastermind of the team.
Dinesh Karthik’s inclusion in IPL 2025 proved to be very impressive
Royal Challengers Bangalore did not waste time in appointing Dinesh Karthik as their mentor and batting coach soon after his retirement from professional cricket. The former cricketer joins RCB’s coaching set-up ahead of the IPL 2025 season.
The inclusion of the former cricketer proved to be immediately effective as the team managed to win the silver medal for the first time in the season. The franchise has kept the coaching set-up untouched in 2026 with minimal changes in the players’ set-up.
RCB have made a confident start to the ongoing IPL 2026 season
RCB made a solid start to the ongoing season by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in a high-scoring match. The Red and Black Brigade needed only 15.4 overs to claim the target of 202. Phil Salt’s early dismissal did not affect the team’s strategy as Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, captain Rajat Patidar and Tim David played according to plan.
Ahead of their next IPL 2026 match, which will be against Chennai Super Kings at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, March 5, the franchise highlighted some of Dinesh Karthik’s moments in the practice session.
Phil Salt explains why Dinesh Karthik is a mastermind as a coach
Fit Salt, who has closely observed England cricket team head coach Brendon McCullum and RCB batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik, explains how important the former Indian cricketer is to the team. Let us briefly explain the working process of Salt Karthik.
The batsman said that his batting coach is incredible at gathering details and information to work with the other coaching members. Using all the information, they formulate the best possible way to make positive cuts during the matches.
Phil Salt said in the video, “DK, the mastermind. He’s very, very detailed. Very good at getting all the information together with Freddy and the coaching staff. And it’s very easy to put it out on the pitch. I would say that’s probably his biggest strength.”
High quality batting. He brings a lot of things to our coaching setup. Which is twice as valuable as the recently played match. So we are very lucky to have DK,” said the experienced opening batsman.
Salt also said that the coaching he is receiving from Karthik is one of the best he has received in a long time, before adding that “I appreciate that you care”, which many took to be a dig at England head coach Brendon McCullum, who has often been accused of not caring about his players.
Salt, cleaning it up is not sarcasm pic.twitter.com/MRVbxCS0bP
– Shailesh (@Shailesh18_) April 1, 2026
Royal Challengers Bangalore fans would like to see Phil Salt shine with his bat again, as the batsman has been struggling to score runs since the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Read more: Watch: Digvesh Rathi, Nitish Rana have differences with each other in front of Rishabh Pant before the IPL 2026 match
