I am doing everything to be part of the Indian team: Dinesh Karthik

In the evening encounter at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a comprehensive 16-run win against the Delhi Capitals in Match 27 of the Indian Premier League and moved to number three in the points table. 

After being asked to bat first, the boys in Red were in a spot of bother at 92 for the loss of five wickets in the 12th over. However, Dinesh Karthik smashed an unbeaten 66 off 34 deliveries studded with five boundaries and five hits over the fence to power the team to 189 runs in the first innings. 

"I have bigger goals, and I have been working really hard to do something special for the country. I am doing everything to be part of the Indian team. Feels good to know that people associate calmness with me, and calmness comes from preparation," Karthik said after receiving his Player of the Match award. 

Faf du Plessis, the skipper of the Bangalore outfit, expects runs from his top-order, especially himself, in the games to come. 

"I think it is important from the top-order perspective to get some runs, but batting again was a little tricky upfront. Maxi put the pressure back on them, and then two guys in form did well for us. DK is in the form of his life and lucky to have him in our side." he said in a post-match interview. 

The right-handed batter also heaped praises on the bowlers for sticking to the plan in wet conditions courtesy of the dew factor. 

"Today was a bit about some planning against their batters. We have not been as good as we would have would have liked at death, but the bowlers were fantastic today. Most teams can fall away quickly, seeing so much of dew and the start they got, but we stuck to our plans."

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant rued the lack of runs in the middle overs behind their loss in this high-voltage contest. 

"I think Warner batted really well and gave us every chance to win this game. We could have batted better in the middle overs, but we cannot blame Marsh because it was his first game. He looked rusty, but it's part and parcel of the game," he said.

Despite tottering at 132 for five in 17 overs, the Challengers were powered to 189 runs courtesy of a 28-run over off Mustafizur Rahman which proved to be a game-changer. 

"I think we could have bowled according to our plans, but we were under the pump, and the way DK batted in the later overs was commendable."

"We will have to talk about doing better as a team and learn from our mistakes in the coming games," he concluded.