India batsman Dinesh Karthik has been issued a notice by the BCCI for violating the guidelines of his central contract. Karthik was spotted in the Trinbago Knight Riders dressing room during the inaugural match of the Caribbean Premier League 2019 on Thursday. As per the BCCI player contract, players are not allowed to participate in or be present at any other sporting activity or sport without prior permission from the board.
It is understood that Karthik was issued the notice, signed by BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri, on Friday and has been given a week to respond. It is understood the three-person Committee of Administrators will adjudicate on the matter once Karthik's response comes in.
Karthik captains Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL franchise that shares owners with Trinbago Knight Riders. He was shown on live broadcast during the match in a Trinbago Knight Riders jersey, seated next to coach Brendon McCullum, and personal mentor Abhishek Nayar, who is also on the coaching staff of Knight Riders in the IPL. McCullum was also recently handed charge of Knight Riders for the next IPL season.
Karthik, 34, was last seen playing for India at the World Cup in England, as a specialist batsman in their semi-final loss to New Zealand. Since then, Karthik has been dropped from the ODI and T20I squads and turned up in one Tamil Nadu Premier League match. He was, however, appointed captain of Tamil Nadu for the Vijay Hazare Trophy which is set to begin from September 24.
It has been a far from ideal year for Karthik, who led Knight Riders with some success last IPL while also bringing himself strongly back into national team reckoning. However, the multiple IPL winners couldn't replicate the performance in 2019. Apart from a dip in scoring, Karthik had to deal with off-field issues too. In the second half of the tournament amid a string of losses, he copped what looked like public criticism from his star player Andre Russell, who suggested he was willing to bat higher up the order days after Karthik had told the press there had been no complaints from the allrounder about his batting position.