Veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik was happy to get some results in the IPL opener despite limited pre-match and preparation time due to his commentary commitments. The only cricket match that Karthik has played since the last IPL was in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He was live during the recently concluded India-England Test series and admitted that finding training time in between commentary duties was difficult. Karthik, who is playing his last IPL, hit an unbeaten 38 off 26 balls against CSK on Friday night to help RCB recover to 173 for 6. By his own admission, he was rusty in the middle.
“It’s very challenging, doing some commentating and continuing to practice cricket in between Test matches and in the time I get, it’s a lot of hard work.
“So, I’m happy that the first game was positive for me, it felt good to score,” Karthik told reporters after the game.
The 38-year-old hopes that the play-offs can be played at his home ground in Chennai and that he can return to Chepauk for his final IPL game.
“I think, time will tell. I really hope it’s not because the last few (playoff) games are going to be here so I can come back and compete and this could be my last game (here) ,” he said when asked if he would do so. This could be the last game in Chennai.
Defending champions CSK easily chased down 174 on a good batting trajectory. CSK pacer Mustafizur Rahman turned things around with his best IPL figures of 4-29.
Karthik was full of praise for the left-arm pacer from Bangladesh.
“He bowled brilliantly. He showed his skills in all three spells,” he commented.
“He bowled much faster than usual and hit the right lengths. The slower ball worked well. It was a very good pitch. Not the usual slow Chebaukter we had in mind Accept.
“The ball is slipping more which is good for batting and he (Rahman) bowls well too. The difficulty is that he can bowl at 138/139 (km/h) and then the speed at which he bowls Slower, which is very deceptive. And he bowls at 121/125 (km/h), which makes him difficult to line up.
“People can see how much talent Anuj has”
For RCB, Anuj Rawat was the top scorer with 48 runs and his 95-run stand with Karthik gave the team a fighting total.
“I’m happy for him. He’s been in this team for two years and people can see how talented he is. The ball comes off his bat. He has great speed with the bat and is a tough guy. Boy. He works hard at the net,” Katic said.
“The last two years haven’t exactly been successful. Last year he showed how good he was at the end of games, but today (Friday) he showed the skills he has.”
“I just hope he can continue to do that because he’s a key player for us. Left-arm passing through midfield and hitting long balls with a lot of power. So, it’s great to see him do that. So good,” he added. PTI AYG BS BS
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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