Dinesh Karthik strikes for RCB in the match against KKR© BCCI/IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday night to record their first win of IPL 2022. After losing the first match to Punjab Kings, the team of Faf du Plessis needed a win in this match and it was their bowlers who made it for them set up by bowling a strong Kolkata Knight Riders batting unit for 128. But the RCB batters made it difficult to chase down the small total after the top order crumbled despite accurate bowling by Umesh Yadav.
David Willey and Shelfane Rutherford kept the innings steady and the young Shahbaz Ahmed brought the team closer to the goal. RCB had the veteran Dinesh Karthik in their ranks but they decided to send Ahmed the order and the trick worked as the youngster hit some key limits to lower the demand rate and then Karthik played the perfect finisher to take the team home to take in the last pass.
When asked about the decision to stop Karthik, RCB captain du Plessis said they wanted to use Karthik’s experience towards the end of the innings.
“Just the experience towards the end. Cool, calm head. The runs were never really too far away from the balls (required run-rate). We always had the feeling, from the side at least, if we could hold wickets in hand then that would be the key.
promoted
“If they beat us they would bowl us out and we beat them we had to hold the wickets until the end. To let that calm come in towards the end. He’s probably that close to being ice cold like MS Dhoni can get in the last five overs, so his experience is extremely valuable,” said du Plessis.
Karthik, who was with Kolkata Knight Riders until last season, remained undefeated on 14 of 7 deliveries. He had also played a major cameo in the first match against Punjab Kings.
Topics mentioned in this article
