IPL 2020: ‘He Pulled Off a Dhoni, Did What MS Has Been Doing to Other Teams,’ Ajay Jadeja Impressed with Dinesh Karthik’s Strategy
Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja has praised Dinesh Karthik after this match and said that Dinesh Karthik did what the CSK captain MS Dhoni has been doing in the IPL for years.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Dinesh Karthik may not have impressed with his batting in the 13th season (IPL 2020) of the Indian Premier League, but he has won everyone’s hearts with his captaincy. KKR has so far won three out of five matches and in the previous match, KKR defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 10 runs.
Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja has praised Dinesh Karthik after this match and said that Dinesh Karthik did what the CSK captain has been doing in the IPL for years.
KKR also defended a score of 167 against CSK, Karthik’s strategy was to bowl Pat Cummins in the early overs and save Sunil Narine for the last over and this strategy proved to be very effective for the team.
“Have to admit that he (Dinesh Karthik) pulled off a Dhoni today. What MS Dhoni has been doing with other teams, today Karthik managed to do the same… He dictated the play.
“His decision to make Pat Cummins bowl the 11th oversaw the game slowing down and then Karthik decided to throw Sunil Narine in the middle. Narine only conceded 3-4 runs and these were the moments where the game shifted in favour of KKR,” Jadeja told Cricbuzz.
“There was always that belief that CSK can chase down all sorts of targets and that fear often made the opposition teams make wrong decisions,” Jadeja added.
CSK were going strong and were ahead of the asking rate till 10 overs but it all changed when Narine sent back Shane Watson (50) in his second over. CSK did not a get boundary from over 11 to over 15 as KKR firmly stationed themselves in the driver’s seat.
CSK held the match for 10 overs, but as soon as Narine dismissed Shane Watson (50), the match dipped from their hands. CSK did not a get boundary from over 11 to over 15 as KKR firmly stationed themselves in the driver’s seat.
Virender Sehwag also praised Dinesh Karthik’s strategy of holding Narine back and bringing him in the last over. He was so impressed with him that he even doubted if it was a strategy from him.
“I think Karthik really reserved his spinners Narine and Varun Chakravarthy for the overs between 9 and 20, this was the right strategy. Today, Karthik stood by his plans even tough the Super Kings had 90 runs in the first 10 overs. Hats off to Karthik,” he said.
Sehwag also talked about how using Chakravarthy, who cleaned up MS Dhoni, at the backend of the innings was a good idea.
“Since it was the first time CSK were playing against Chakravarthy and against Sunil Narine, no batsman wants to take the risk in those overs. After Sam Curran hit 10 runs to Narine in one over, it looked like Chennai got some momentum but after Dhoni departed, that momentum broke down. Not long after Curran got out, Chennai found themselves reeling in the race,” he said.
