Follow UsOver the last two years, which also coincided with Dinesh Karthik’s one of the best IPL performances ever in 2022, the wicket-keeper from Tamil Nadu has become a champion for young cricketers around the country. While his love for Tamil Nadu players knows no bounds, Karthik has often spoken glowingly about the up-and-coming generations.
On Friday night, batting alongside Anuj Rawat, Karthik saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 102-5 in 15 overs to 173-6 in 20 overs. It was largely possible because of the way the duo batted in the death overs, particularly in the 18th over, collecting 25 runs against Tushar Deshpande.
"I couldn't be happier for him. He's been part of this team for two years, people can just see how much talent he has. The ball flies off his bat, he's got great bat speed, he's a strong boy. Really works hard in the nets," Karthik said of Rawat in the post-match press conference.
"The last two years haven't really panned out as well. Last year, towards the end, he showed glimpses of how good he is. I just hope he keeps continuing this form because he is a key player for us - a left-hander through the middle - and he hits a long ball. He's got a lot of power so it is great to see him do well."
RCB started on a positive note, but the table instantly turned as soon as Mustafizur Rahman took the new ball. The Bangladeshi pacer dismissed Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar in quick succession before Deepak Chahar sent Glenn Maxwell back for a golden duck. That RCB had a long batting order helped when Karthik and Rawat pushed the team to a par total.
“Yeah, we have a long batting lineup. What you want to be doing is put pressure on the opposition throughout, and that’s why we like to play attacking shots. And sometimes it becomes important for the back-end players to soak up the pressure and try to see what is required at that stage and that’s what Anuj and I did,” Karthik said.
“Having said that, most of these batters are high-pedigree batters. They are playing international cricket and are doing it so well that they are dominating international cricket. If they keep their form and continue to do what they have been doing and not lose wickets like we did today, we can certainly see big scores,” the former Indian batter concluded.
Karthik was effusive in his praise for Mustafizur, who for the first time in his IPL career, managed to take more than one wicket inside the powerplay. He came out to bowl in three bursts, in all three phases, and never let RCB off the hook.
"I thought he bowled brilliantly. In all three spells, he showed his skills. He's bowling a lot quicker than he usually does. So that's great for him personally. He hit the right lengths. His slower ball came out well. This was a very good pitch. It's not the usually slow Chepauk turner that we are probably visualising in our mind.
"The ball skidded on a lot more and it was good for batting and he bowled really well. What makes It really tough is that he can bowl at 138-139kph and he's got that slower ball which goes to 120-125kph, which makes it really hard to line him up," the 38-year-old added.