Dinesh Karthik played an extraordinary knock to power Royal Challengers Bangaloreto a 16-run victory against Delhi Capitals by 16 runs in their IPL match. Former Team India coach Ravi Shastri paid tribute to Karthik’s knock.
Batting first, Royal Challengers Bangalore made 189-5 in 20 overs.
In reply, Delhi Capitals could only post 173-7 in their quota of 20 overs. Dinesh Karthik was the star of the RCB’s innings as he made 66 from 34 balls. Glenn Maxwell made 55 from 34 deliveries. Both Karthik and Maxwell played key roles in building the RCB’s innings after the side from Bangalore were reduced to 92-5 in 11.2 overs.
Karthik was declared Player Of The Match for his impressive knock.
A visibly dejected DC skipper Rishabh Pant said after the match, “I think Warner batted beautifully and gave us every chance to win the match. The wicket got better and better as the innings went along, that over from Mustafizur was a game changer for us. I think we could bowl according to our plans, but we were under the pump, the way DK batted in the later overs was commendable. We will have to talk about doing better as a team, we’ll have to learn from our mistakes in the coming games.”
His RCB counterpart, Faf du Plessis, said, “Batting again was a little tricky. But Maxi put the pressure back on them. The bowlers were fantastic today. Most teams can fall away quickly seeing so much of dew. But we stuck to our plans. Nice thing to have experience. Whether it is going well or not, you can reinforce the trust. DK is in the form of his life. Obviously lucky to have him in our side. Just one game at a time. It is important to stay calm and composed.”
Karthik, for his part, said, “But I must admit that I have a bigger goal. I have been working really hard. I have been trying everything to be a part of the Indian team. I respected Kuldeep as he bowled well. When you are batting at the death, you try and get under the ball more while hitting. I must admit positions and calmness comes from preparations. Apart from that staying in the moment sounds cliched but it works.”