RR vs RCB: Shane Watson Labels Dinesh Karthik As RCB's Standout Performer In The 15th Edition Of IPL

Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has labelled veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) standout performer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.

Karthik has been sensational with the bat for the Faf du Plessis-led side in the 15th edition of the IPL and his brilliant performance has also helped him get his India recall.

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So far, Karthik has smashed 324 runs in 15 games at an amazing average of 64.80 and an outstanding strike rate of 187.28. The wicketkeeper-batsman smashed crucial 37 runs off 23 balls against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator of the IPL 2022, where RCB won the match to book a spot in IPL 2022 Qualifier 2.

Meanwhile, Watson lauded RCB pacers Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel for their incredible performance in the cash-rich league.

“Josh Hazlewood, he has shown that with CSK, and now his bowling the T20s has gone through the roof in the last 18 months. Harshal Patel has added value again, gosh he has just been brilliant in the last couple of years,” he asserted.

He further showered praise on wicketkeeper-batsman Karthik and said that he has been the biggest standout performer for the franchise.

“And the one who has been the biggest standout has been Dinesh Karthik. The value he has added and he showed that last night (Wednesday against Lucknow Super Giants). To finish off innings like that, they could have been stagnated a bit but he got 32 of 16 balls to really provide that extra little burst. He has done that just about every time he has batted for RCB,” Watson said on Grade Cricketer Podcast.

Faf du Plessis was a great buy for them – Shane Watson

While talking about RCB captain Faf du Plessis, Watson said that the RCB did a great job by acquiring the services of the veteran Proteas batsman at the IPL 2022 mega auction as he was one of the very few players who could have led the Royal Challengers Bangalore very well in the tournament.

“Even before this tournament started, RCB were one of my favourites because of how well they did in the auction and how well-balanced their squad they were able to put together was. Faf du Plessis, that was a great buy for them. Because knowing that Virat was going to step down, Faf was probably was one of the only few players I think was going to do a brilliant job to know how to get the best out of Virat as not the captain and sort of know how to steer the franchise into the right direction.”

“It was tactically a brilliant decision to get Faf involved and lead. He is great guy and very good leader. Very compassionate, caring and empathetic guy. He was always going to do a good job and combine that with Kohli, Maxwell and Hazlewood,” he added.

Also Read: RR vs RCB: The Eliminator Started Late, There Was Not A Lot Of Sleep For Us – Faf du Plessis Ahead Of Qualifier 2

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