Dinesh Karthik’s international career was a classic case of what could have been after the arrival of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but on Wednesday, when he said goodbye to the game at the end of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL campaign, it was from a stage he made his own over the past 17 years.

The Eliminator between RCB and Rajasthan Royals ended up being Karthik’s swansong, bringing down curtains on a 20-year-old career marked by a series of comebacks across formats.