IPL 2017: Overall It Has Been A Disappointing Season: Dinesh Karthik
May 5, 2017 at 12:39 PM
Very few people would have expected Gujarat Lions to be on the losing side after whirlwind fifties from Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik had propelled the team to 208 for 7 against Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The Lions were in a spot of bother initially when both their openers returned to the pavilion with just 10 runs on the board but Raina and Karthik took the Lions to a strong position with a 133-run partnership.
However, what unfolded thereafter not only left the Lions shell-shocked but almost every cricket fan and expert in the country. Riding on Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant’s blistering knocks, the Daredevils chased down the huge total with over 2 overs remaining. In fact, the chase was so comfortable that the home side needed less than run-a-ball in the last five overs and the architect of this chase were Pant (97 off 43) and Samson (61 off 31).
Barring the early dismissal of Delhi Daredevils skipper Karun Nair, who returned to the pavilion with just 24 runs on the board, the visitors had little to cheer about in the second half of the match and Dinesh Karthik rightly said that the latter half of the match belonged to the capital-based outfit.
“Ya I think the first half belonged to us but the second half went totally to Delhi. Credit to them, I think they played really well in the second half, there is no doubt about it,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said at the post-match conference.
The Tamil Nadu ace did not try to blame the dew after his bowlers were absolutely clobbered by Samson and Pant and instead gave the credits to the Daredevils batsmen.
“I don’t think there is much dew. I think it was good skill levels shown by their batsmen, I think they were hitting boundaries at will, making the ground look much smaller than what it is and that’s what has been the story of our season so far,” he said.
Ishan Kishan had done reasonably well after being promoted as an opener. However, the Lions tinkered their opening pair once again, promoting Dwayne Smith to open the innings with Brendon McCullum. However, the move backfired as both of them were back in the hut with only 10 runs on the board.
Speaking about the reason behind the decision to promote Smith, Karthik said:
“We wanted to bat Smith up the order. He is very comfortable in the order and we thought we would get off to a flying start. It didn’t happen really.”
With just 3 wins in 11 matches, the table-toppers of last year are out of the race for a berth in the playoffs. Expressing his disappointment over the dismal campaign, Karthik said:
“It has been an absolutely disappointing season, to say the least. We’ve just not turned up to the party and we are just not good enough to qualify for the play offs, as simple as that.”
“There are games where we lacked in batting and a lot of games in bowling but overall it has been a disappointing season. I think we’ll all come off as better players next year,” the 32-year old concluded.