The 39-year-old, who had announced retirement from all forms of cricket earlier in June will become the first-ever Indian to participate in the SA20.

Karthik had a stellar international career for India, being part of the team's ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2013 wins. He represented India in 180 international matches across formats and registered 172 dismissals to his name behind the stumps.

In the T20 format alone for various teams, including in the IPL, Karthik has scored 7407 runs in 401 matches at a strike rate of 136.96.

He played his last competitive cricket during this year's IPL for RCB where he played a crucial role in the team's playoffs qualification, scoring 326 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 187.36.

Incidentally, Karthik's first taste of success in any ICC tournament with the Indian team came in South Africa itself where he lifted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup trophy in 2007.

Royals' director of cricket, Kumar Sangakkara said, "Dinesh has served as one of the modern day greats for India in white ball cricket, and his wealth of experience will contribute to the making of our side for Season 3. He has always proved to be a great asset for the teams he's represented across leagues for the way he approaches the game and the impact he can make, so it's an exciting signing for us and we look forward to having him with the group at Paarl."

Meanwhile, Karthik also shared his thoughts on the prospect of returning to cricket and playing in the SA20. "I have so many fond memories of playing in and visiting South Africa, and when this opportunity came about, I couldn't say no because of how special it would be to come back to playing competitive cricket and win this incredible competition with the Royals," said Karthik.

"Even though I didn't have the chance to represent the Royals in the IPL, to me it was always a franchise setup and environment that was very attractive as a player. I am delighted to be joining the Paarl Royals team which oozes a lot of experience, quality and potential. I am certainly looking forward to joining the group and contributing to what should be an exciting season," he added.

The signing of Karthik means the Paarl Royals will have a formidable side going into the auction, with captain David Miller, Joe Root, Lungi Ngidi, Bjorn Fortuin, Andile Phehlukwayo, Mitchell van Buuren, Codi Yusuf, Keith Dudgeon, Nqaba Peter, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuandre Pretorius and Dayyaan Galiem among the players who have signed for Season 3.