In a thrilling chase, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten cameo helped his side beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets on Wednesday.
Karthik walked in to bat when RCB was struggling badly with four wickets down for just 87 during the chase of 170. The experienced campaigner didn’t waste any time and began his magic show from the word go.
Karthik added 67 runs for the sixth wicket with rookie Shahbaz Ahmed as the duo completely turned the table around with an explosive batting display. Shahbaz was dismissed in the 18th over for a well-made 45 off 26 balls, but Karthik stayed unbeaten till the end at 44 from 23 deliveries to help RCB chase down the total with five balls to spare.
No wonder, for his breathtaking knock, Karthik was named ‘Player of the Match’. When he came to receive his award, the wicketkeeper-batter revealed the success mantra that drove him to play such an inspirational knock in a crunch situation.
Karthik said it was the result of a conscious effort to reinvent himself and prove that he was not done yet and had a lot to offer. The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player said he felt he could’ve done a better job last year, so this time around, he prepared hard.
“I made a conscious effort to do justice to myself. Felt I could have done better in the last few years. The way I’ve trained has been different. I was telling myself I’m not done yet. I have a goal, and I want to achieve something,” said Karthik during the post-match presentation.
Karthik mentioned he planned his innings in a way that RCB could accomplish the target before revealing he played enough white-ball cricket and prepared for such tense situations.
“When I went in, we needed 12 rpo and had to keep going. I train for these situations. To stay calm and know whom you can take down. I’ve tried to play as much white-ball cricket as possible and prepare as many scenarios as possible. Lot of people have spent time with me on this journey leading upto the tournament, and it’s the work that goes unnoticed mostly. I think T20 cricket it’s mostly premeditating, but you also need to be clear about where to target,” added Karthik.
