“Happy birthday to my everything” - Dipika Pallikal shares endearing pictures with Dinesh Karthik as cricketer turns 37

Renowned Indian squash player Dipika Pallikal has shared images of her cricketer-husband Dinesh Karthik’s birthday celebrations on her official Twitter account. DK, as he is fondly referred to, turned 37 on Wednesday (June 1). Since morning, the cricketer has been flooded with wishes from Indian cricketers as well as fans on social media.

Karthik was in the news recently for his batting exploits while representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. His success in the T20 league earned him an India recall for the T20I series against South Africa at home, which will be held this month.

Taking to her social media account, Pallikal posted two pictures of Karthik’s birthday celebrations. The first one has the husband-wife duo smiling and enjoying the big day. In the second, the birthday boy is seen cutting a cake with the number 37 on it. Both Karthik and Pallikal are seen holding one of their twins. The faces of the children have been hidden with a heart-shaped design.

Sharing the pictures on her social media account, Pallikal captioned it:

“Happy Birthday to my Everything❤️ @DineshKarthik”

Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa and Cheteshwar Pujara, among others from the Indian cricket fraternity, took to social media to share birthday wishes for the keeper-batter earlier in the day.

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“Probably my most special comeback” - Dinesh Karthik on Team India recall

Karthik, who scored 330 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 183.33 in IPL 2022, is excited to be part of the Indian team again. Reacting after earning a national recall, the 'Super Striker' of the recently concluded T20 league had earlier said in a video shared on RCB’s official social media account:

“Very happy, very, very satisfying… must say that this has been probably my most special comeback, because a lot of people had given up on me. For me to come back and do what I did, practise the way I did with my coach (Abhishek) Nayar, things that have happened in the lead-up to the auction, and how I practised post that… a lot of credit also to (RCB head coach) Sanjay Bangar and (RCB director of cricket operations) Mike Hesson [sic].”

He also credited the Indian selectors and team management for selecting him on the basis of his performances despite his age. The veteran keeper-batter has been part of 32 T20Is and has scored 399 runs at a strike rate of 143.52.