Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captain Faf du Plessis showered praise on Dinesh Karthik for finishing the game against Rajasthan Royals after the Men in Red and Black won the thrilling contest by four wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
RCB was under the pump as the required rate was more than 12 runs/over in the last seven overs.
However, Dinesh Karthik, who has been given the finishing role by the franchise, was once again able to bail his team out of trouble. Karthik was able to get going from the word go and he took the attack to the opposition bowlers to transfer back the pressure.
RCB scored 21 runs off the 14th over, bowled by veteran Ravichandran Ashwin and all the credit goes to Dinesh Karthik for outclassing his Tamil Nadu teammate. Karthik went on to score an unbeaten knock of 44 runs off just 23 balls as he scored his runs at a strike rate of almost 200.
On the other hand, Shahbaz Ahmed scored 45 runs off just 26 balls to play a key role in the run-chase of 170 runs. Ahmed and Karthik added 67 runs off just 32 balls to get their team back in the contest.
Faf du Plessis was delighted after his team made a resounding comeback in the run-chase as they were behind the eight ball at one stage.
Faf du Plessis said in the post-match presentation, “To pull it out of nowhere, you need some great characters and DK is as great a character as you can get. His composure under pressure is amazing. He is really calm and such a great asset to us. We bowled really well, upto the 18th over and then Jos got some good shots. Got a score that we thought was a bit above-par with the conditions and the surface spinning a bit. We started quite well though, but then Yuzi (Chahal) bowled really well to get them back in. But for me, the great thing about today once again was our ability to come back to win games out of nowhere. People think that since he (Shahbaz) is a small skinny guy, he can’t hit it long but he can smash it a long way. We didn’t bowl him today because of the wet ball and left-hander being around but he’ll definitely play a long part in this season. Virat is up there (in terms of fitness), I’ll tell that for his fans.”
Dinesh Karthik has been superb for RCB this season and he is yet to be dismissed in the tournament. DK had scored a fine cameo of 14-ball 32 in the first match against Punjab Kings but his efforts had gone in vain. Subsequently, he added the finishing touches against Kolkata Knight Riders as he scored 7-ball 14.
RCB has always lacked a finisher in their team over the year and Dinesh Karthik is doing a fine job this season. The Faf du Plessis-led team will next face Mumbai Indians at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday.
