CUTTACK: It took Dinesh Karthik three years to make a comeback into the Indian dressing room on the back of being one of the best finishers in the IPL. However, on Sunday afternoon, when the stage was set for him to come in the middle and execute his role to perfection for the Men in Blue, the team management decided to promote Axar Patel ahead of him.
As Hardik Pandya departed with the scoreboard reading 90/4, 7.2 overs were left in the Indian innings. Patel came in at No. 6, took 11 balls to score 10 before returning to the pavilion when pacer Anrich Nortje cleaned his middle stump. 'DK' came in at No. 7 after Shreyas Iyer got out off the penultimate ball of the 14th over with the score at 98/5.
It was never easy to bat on the two-paced Barabati Stadium track, with the ball seaming as well. Karthik took his time to get set, scoring only eight from first 15 balls he faced. But once he got his eye in, he shifted gears and scored 22 off the next six, with two fours and two sixes to help India to a respectable 148/6 from the 112/6 India were in when Patel left at the end of the 17th over.
Shreyas Iyer later defended the baffling decision of sending Patel ahead of Karthik. "It's something we strategized earlier on as well. We had seven overs left (when Patel came in). Axar is someone who can take singles, keep rotating the strike. And we didn't require someone to start hitting from ball one. 'DK' can do that obviously. 'DK' has been really a good asset for us after 15 overs where he can come in and slog the ball. Even he was finding it difficult to start," was Iyer's explanation.
Klaasen hopes innings will prolong career
Out of the SA squad after last year's T20 World Cup and without a central contract, SA's wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen's career got a fresh lease of life with his match-winning 81 off 46 balls in Cuttack. "It's a blessing from above that this innings came at this time of my career. This puts me on the map. So hopefully this will just prolong my career a little bit longer," said the 30-year-old. "It was difficult. I found myself struggling up front. But I tried to be positive and it came off. I also knew we needed to target the spinners."
