When Men in blue needed 34 off 12 balls in the Nidahas Trophy tri-series final against Bangladesh. Vijay Shankar and Manish Pandey were struggling to get going prior to the death over. After Pandey fell for 28 runs, Dinesh Karthik came out at No.7 and it seemed like the match had slipped away. However, KKR skipper blasted 29 off eight balls to help India seal the title in dramatic style and prolong Bangladesh’s agony in Twenty20s.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma, the Indian cricket team skipper, admitted Karthik was upset with his demotion. “I told him - I want you to bat and finish off the game for us, because whatever skill you have, it will be required in the last three or four overs. He can do that for us. That is the only reason he was not batting at six in the 13th over when I got out. He was quite upset with that. He’ll now be quite happy how he finished off the game. To do what he did today will give him a lot of confidence going forward,” Rohit said.
Karthik slammed 22 runs in the 19th over bowled by Rubel Hossain and Rohit admitted India were lucky in having that one big over. With the Nidahas Trophy Twenty20 tri-series done, the focus will now shift to the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League that begins on April 7.
