Navi Mumbai, March 31 (PTI): Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis has lavished praise on teammate Dinesh Karthik, saying his calm demeanour is close to what Mahendra Singh Dhoni displays in the final overs of the game.
Karthik clobbered a six and a four in the first two deliveries of the last over to take RCB home after they were in a spot of bother chasing a tricky target of 129 against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday night.
“DK’s experience helped in the end, cool-calm, runs weren’t never really too far away. He’s probably as cool as MS Dhoni can get in the last five overs,” said RCB captain Faf du Plessis, who has played with Dhoni at CSK, in the post-match presentation.
Seamers Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj had shared three wickets in the powerplays to leave KKR at 44 for 3 and Wanindu Hasaranga then snapped four to bowl them out for 128 in 18.5 overs.
Chasing the target, RCB batters had to overcome some anxious moments as they huffed and puffed to a three-wicket win with four balls to spare in the end. “Good win, obviously chasing small scores, you want to be positive and not leave it late, but it was good bowling from their seamers. Tonight there was seam and bounce, the first night it swung a bit more,” said du Plessis, who was named captain ahead of the IPL this year.
RCB had lost their opener against Punjab Kings at the same venue despite posting a challenging 205 for 2.
“Two-three days ago, it was 200 vs 200. Tonight it was 120 vs 120, pretty good. In an ideal world, we would’ve liked to have won more convincingly but a win is a win.”
