Dinesh Karthik is not finished yet. He has re-emerged as one of the premier finishers in this season of IPL. About to turn 37 in a couple of months, he is light on his feet as ever while moving in the crease, disturbing the line and lengths of bowlers and making a mockery of the death overs.
Saturday night was another freak show which has become usual with Karthik around. Delhi Capitals were his latest prey as he went about pulling Royal Challengers Bangalore out of a hole at 92/5 in the 12th over and then clobbering the young bowling attack to all parts of the ground to score an unbeaten 66 off 34 balls. He put on an unbeaten sixth-wicket 97-run stand with Shahbaz Ahmed as RCB set Capitals a daunting 190-run target.
Karthik’s innings provided enough cushion for RCB to absorb the David Warner and Rishabh Pant’s power hitting who fell for 38-ball 66 and 17-ball 34 respectively. Mitchell Marsh, playing his first game of the season, getting stuck at No. 3 for a 24-ball 14 after an opening stand of 50 off 28 balls contributed to Capitals falling short by 16 runs. Josh Hazlewood was the standout bowler of the night returning figures of 3/28.
Chants of ‘DK…DK’ reverberated around the Wankhede stadium, reminiscent of ‘AB…AB’ while AB de Villiers used to bat in India, and Karthik wasn’t going to disappoint the crowd. In a spell of awe-inspiring improvised batting, which was closest one could get to matching the genius of De Villiers, Karthik helped RCB plunder 74 in the last five overs as Shahbaz enjoyed the onslaught from the other remaining unbeaten on 34 off 21 balls. He displayed a whole array of shots in his innings, reminding the selectors he is still in shape to make it to the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
1/9:Bangalore beat Delhi
<p>Dinesh Karthik smashed an unbeaten 66 to set up a 16-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL match against Delhi Capitals on Saturday. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
2/9:Dinesh Karthik
<p>Karthik steered Bangalore to 189/5 with his 34-ball knock after Glenn Maxwell's breezy 55 in the second match of the day in Mumbai. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
3/9:David Warner
<p>Delhi could only muster 173/7 despite a 38-ball 66 from David Warner. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
4/9:RCB's strong finish
<p>Karthik stood out as he put on an unbeaten stand of 97 for the sixth wicket with Shahbaz Ahmed (32), as Bangalore plundered 69 runs from the last four overs. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
5/9:Karthik's assault
<p>Karthik made full use of a dropped catch on five to tear into the opposition attack in the final 18 balls and smashed Mustafizur Rahman for four fours and two sixes in a 28-run 18th over. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
6/9:Glenn Maxwell
<p>Bangalore lost their big guns including skipper Faf du Plessis for eight and Kohli run out on 12 before Maxwell unleashed his power to lay the foundation for the total. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
7/9:The Big Show
<p>Maxwell took on Kuldeep Yadav in one over to hit 23 runs before he fell to same bowler. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
8/9:Josh Hazlewood
<p>In reply, Delhi faltered after Warner's departure and Josh Hazlewood struck twice in one over including Rovman Powell for nought as wheels came off the chase. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
9/9:Virat Kohli
<p>Skipper Rishabh Pant attempted to hit back with his 17-ball 34 but became Mohammed Siraj's second wicket as Virat Kohli leapt to take a stunning one-handed catch at cover. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>Karthik broke loose in the 18th over bowled by Mustafizur Rahman. It was as if he knew where Rahman would land the ball. If he was down on one knee way outside the off stump at one moment then he would be lining up to reverse sweep the other moment. And then when the bowler zeroed in on a plan of bowling full, he was effortlessly tonking them over their head.
For the first 15 overs of the match, Capitals were magical in the field, getting Faf du Plessis at the point boundary and running Virat Kohli out through a sensational piece of fielding by Lalit Yadav. Glenn Maxwell threatened to run away with the game hitting Kuldeep Yadav for 23 runs in the ninth over as he targeted the shorter side of the ground. Once Kuldeep came back and claimed his wicket for a belligerent 34-ball 55, Capitals would have believed they had got RCB on the mat.
As Capitals looked to be in control, the first real blemish happened. Karthik, struggling to get the scoreboard moving, got an inside edge off Kuldeep and captain Rishabh Pant shelled it. It was the DK show thereafter.
