Dinesh Karthik: Dipika knows my ups and downs and how to react

India cricketer Dinesh Karthik looks up to squash star wife as he feels disoriented while training through lengthy lockdown

India cricketer Dinesh Karthik has revealed that his squash star wife Dipika Pallikal has inspired him to work out during the Coronavirus-caused lockdown.

"In the lockdown, initially, I was happy to be home and train but then, it got [extended] to two, then three and four weeks. I was disoriented. I don-t know when my next game is, what am I training for? It was boring at times," Dinesh, 35, said on Star Sports- Cricket Connected.

However, Dipika, 28, continued training and Dinesh began looking up to her. "Then I see this person, who is playing an individual sport, push herself every day. She also doesn-t know when her next tournament is. I feel cricket will probably start before squash but she-s still training without any game around the corner. I was taken aback seeing her and wanted to push myself more," added Dinesh, who married Dipika in August 2015.

The cricketer was grateful to his better half for standing by him through thick and thin. "She knows the ups and downs, when I-m going through a lull, how to react. She just gives me my space, so it helps," added Dinesh who married Dipika in 2015.

Dinesh Karthik also spoke about how much time it’ll take the players to bounce back in the game. Karthik said, "I think a minimum of 4 weeks so that the body is used to playing. You need to start slowly first, it’s going to be quality then you need to slowly increase the quantity and then the intensity. To do that in a proper way, I think it will take at least 4 weeks, specially for the fast-bowlers because they are coming off a very quite time, to go and start bowling 140-150 clicks through the day, at different points of the day when the heat will vary, it’s going to be a good challenge for them, a massive challenge for them."

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