IPL 2018: Dinesh Karthik Backed Himself to Get Better off Jasprit Bumrah

The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Dinesh Karthik said he was backing himself to finish off the game against the Mumbai Indians by taking on the death specialist, Jasprit Bumrah.

It turned out to be a thrilling encounter in the end, as Mumbai prevailed by 13 runs. Kolkata needed 37 of the final two overs when Bumrah was handed over the ball.

The visitors were set a stiff target of 182 to chase the target. However, despite a good platform set by Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana, KKR lost the plot in the end and allowed Mumbai to remain afloat in the tournament.

It was the 4^th victory for Mumbai in this edition. With the equation down to 37 of the last two overs, all eyes were on Karthik to replicate the heroics of the Nidahas Trophy. However, he was up against one of the best death overs bowlers in the world, Jasprit Bumrah.

Kolkata scored 14 of the penultimate over which meant they faced an uphill task in the final over. 23 runs were also going to be difficult. Eventually, Krunal Pandya held on to his nerves and bowled a terrific final over. He bowled few tight deliveries which were enough to stall Kolkata.

“I felt that I could take on Bumrah. I had the belief, and I backed myself in the last over, Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but we still got 14 from the over, I know (JP) Duminy dropped me, but we still got 14 from the over. Things would have been different had Russell stayed till the end. He got a good ball, so credit to Bumrah. He bowled well,” Karthik said.

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For the 2^nd time in the season, it wasn’t the regular opener Sunil Narine who walked out in the middle with Chris Lynn. Instead came out the match-winner from the previous encounter, the teenaged, Shubhman Gill.

Karthik said Narine wasn’t feeling well at the halfway mark and had gone off the field in the 19^th over of Mumbai’s innings.

“He wasn’t feeling well, he went off the field during the 19th over and wasn’t feeling really well,” Karthik said.

Meanwhile, Kolkata was hoping that another match-winner, Andre Russell steps up to the plate. However, he got dismissed by a good delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, and Krunal Pandya took a sensational catch.

“We have a separate role for Russell in the team, at what stages of the game he will bowl. We are pretty clear with that. On this day he bowled well, but there are some days when he goes for boundaries.”

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