With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on the approach and a mega auction ahead, different franchises might have commenced planning for their purchases at the auctions. In the interim, Dinesh Karthik – one of the coaches of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) – warns that South African pace bowler Gerald Coetzee will dent the owner’s pockets during the auction. Coetzee is part of the South Africa side that is playing a four T20I matches series against India, and was impressive when the Proteas turned the tables on India in the second match.
In the second T20I, Coetzee claimed the vital wicket of the first batsman Abhishek Sharma and later did not disappoint with the bat either. He came out of the batting box at the most challenging position for South Africa who were at 86/7 after him. He managed to score a quick 19 runs off just nine deliverers and led his team to victory.
Karthik, during a recent interview, stated that a player like Coetzee will definitely stir up huge interest in potential buyers come the mega auction, which is scheduled for November 24 and 25.
“I don’t know how much the Cricket South Africa board are paying him but I am sure he will take a fat pay cheque in a couple of weeks time,” said Karthik at an interaction on Cricbuzz.
“He is impressing one and all. He is a thinking cricketer, he is someone who has worked on his batting. He is not just a one-trick pony,” Karthik further added.
In 2023 IPL, the player was bought by the franchise of Mumbai Indians (MI) for INR 5 Crore ahead of the season, having taken 13 wickets in 10 matches. But, he was off the franchise list even before any mega auction.
Karthik, on the other hand, was named RCB’s batting coach retiring from all forms of cricket after IPL 2024. RCB has managed to keep Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal prior to the mega auction while coming in with the second-highest purse of INR 83 cr.
As if Karthik’s acknowledgment was not enough, even LSG mentor Zaheer Khan was also present and spent some time appreciating Coetzee.
“To his look, a lot of power there in his batting. It seems that he is gearing himself up to play that sort of role. This seems to be a person who really tries hard to play this part. He seeks to help all the way through the match and this is the most remarkable fact about him,” said Zaheer praising Coetzee.
