Dinesh Karthik says, “I’m not done yet,” sending strong message to the selectors: Veteran wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik continues to remain in the limelight in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following his heroics to seal the game for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Karthik put up a batting masterclass as he helped his side, RCB, conquer Rajasthan Royals and win their second game of the season.
As usual, following a decent start by the openers, RCB found itself amidst trouble after a few quick fall of wickets. RR reduced RCB to 62/4 in 8.5 overs. The game seemed to slip away from RCB’s hand and the required run rate began to pile up.
In the meantime, Dinesh Karthik walked into the field. Notably, Karthik prefers to bat in the final overs and does the finisher’s role perfectly. However, this time around, RCB required a little more than the finishing touch from DK.
The glovesman unleashed all shots from his armoury and sensibly scored runs against the likes of R Ashwin, Y Chahal and Trent Boult. He along with Shahbaz Ahmad brought back the required run rate below 9 with their crafty shots.
The game took a major turn when Dinesh Karthik decided to target R Ashwin and amassed 21 runs off the 14th over.
Eventually, RCB, owing to the valiant efforts of Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmad, won the game by four wickets with Harshal Patel smoking the finishing six. DK remained unbeaten at 44 off 23 balls. In fact, Dinesh Karthik is yet to be dismissed in the ongoing edition of the IPL.
Shahbaz Ahmed played beautifully and scored 45 runs from 26 deliveries with the help of four fours and three sixes.
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I’m not done yet: Dinesh Karthik
During the post-match presentation ceremony, Karthik opened up that he trained much better with RCB.
“I think I made a conscious effort this year to do justice to myself because the last year, I felt I could have done better. The way I trained was much better this time around. Credit to the person who trained with me. I’m making a conscious effort to tell myself that I’m not done yet,” said Karthik at the presentation ceremony.
“When I went in, we needed 12 rpo and had to keep going. I train for these situations. To stay calm and know whom you can take down. I’ve tried to play as much white-ball cricket as possible, and prepare as many scenarios as possible. Lot of people have spent time with me in this journey, leading up to the tournament and it’s the work that goes unnoticed mostly,” he added.
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