Former Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha praised ex-KKR skipper for his blistering cameo against Sunrisers. Calling him the pro version of Mumbai batsman Suryakumar Yadav, Ojha was highly impressed by some of the outrageous shots played by pocket-rocket Dinesh Karthik.
In their first match of the 14th edition of the IPL, KKR led by Eoin Morgan ended up defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by a margin of 10 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Batting first, KKR managed to post a massive total of 187 runs on the board. Started off by Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi, KKR finished strongly as their wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik played a magnificent cameo towards the end of the innings.
DK came in to bat at number six and carried on the momentum built by Nitish and Rahul. Karthik smashed 22 runs in just nine deliveries at a strike rate of 244.44. The wicketkeeper’s powerful cameo included two boundaries and one maximum. The former KKR captain scored these crucial runs while batting against Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan, who are not easy to score off.
Incredibly impressed with the former KKR skipper’s knock, former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha. Showering praises on Karthik, Ojha said that he is versatile and should come to bat at number three as that will give him more game time. He added that Karthik can be very hard to contain and can guide his team to big totals if he bats in the top order.
He compared the experienced right-hander with Mumbai Indians stylish batsman Suryakumar Yadav.
“I believe Dinesh Karthik opening or coming 1 down will do wonders to KKR because he is a guy if he bats long, he is so versatile. He is the pro version of Suryakumar Yadav,”
Ojha claimed.
While speaking on Star Sports, Pragyan said that he had seen Karthik right from my childhood, and he should always come as an opener or maybe one down. He needs those 7, 8 extra deliveries to set himself up so that he can go all guns blazing at the end.
Put to bat first, the Knight Riders were able to reach a total of 187 runs due to excellent hitting from Karthik, Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi. Rana’s knock of 80 runs off 56 fetched him the man of the match as well.
