Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis on Wednesday (30th March) heaped rich praise on Dinesh Karthik. He said that the wicketkeeper-batter is ‘ice cool’ like MS Dhoni when it comes to finishing the games.
RCB registered their first win of the IPL 2022 after they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a low-scoring thriller by 3 wickets in Mumbai. Bowling first, after winning the toss, they did well to restrict the Shreyas Iyer-led side to a total of 128 runs.
Wanindu Hasaranga starred with the ball for them as he returned with the figures of 4/20. Whereas Akash Deep, Harshal Patel and Mohammed Siraj took 6 wickets between them to bundle out the opposition for a low total.
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RCB didn’t have a great start with the bat as they lost quick wickets and were in a spot of bother. But handy contributions from David Willey (18), Sherfane Rutherford (28) and Shahbaz Ahmed (27) kept them in the hunt.
The Faf du Plessis-led side decided to hold back Dinesh Karthik in the end. Their decision paid off as the senior keeper-batter smashed a six and then a four in the last over to seal the game for his side. He scored unbeaten 14 runs from seven balls and earned important two points for his team.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Faf du Plessis correlated ‘ice cool’ Dinesh Karthik with MS Dhoni and praised him for finishing the match for his side.
"Just the experience. The runs were never a problem. We just needed to have wickets in hand. DK is as close as it gets to MS Dhoni when it comes to being ice cool," Faf du Plessis said.
Du Plessis expressed his delight after winning the match and highlighted that close margin games are important at the start of the tournament for them.
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"Very happy. Close small margins game are very important at the start. Small score, we just tried to be positive but very good bowling from their seamers. The ball swung a little earlier but today there was seam and bounce. Two three days ago, it was 200 and today it was 130. We would like to be more convincing," he said.
Du Plessis admitted that while captaining the side he rely on other players in the side for help as there is a good commutation among everyone in the camp.
"I rely on other people for help. We have great people in the camp. There is good communication in the group. The guys have been great. They have been supportive. They are coming to me with ideas," he said.
Notably, Dinesh Karthik had hit unbeaten 32 off 14, hitting 3 sixes and as many boundaries in RCB's tournament opener against Punjab Kings last week.
(Star Sports inputs)
