On March 18th, 2019, DK or Dinesh Karthik pulled off the impossible. He snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The occasion was the Nidahasa Trophy finals and the opponents who bore the brunt of DK’s brilliance were Bangladesh.
India were in bad shape while chasing a target of 167 for victory against Bangladesh in the final and at one stage were reeling at 133 for 5 in the 18th over. The match was clearly heading towards Bangladesh’s favor.
Rohit Sharma led India needed 34 runs from the last two overs and things looked literally impossible for the Men in Blue as at the other hand, young all-rounder Vijay Shankar was feeling the heat of the occasion and was unable to put bat to ball. He was struggling to hard to go for the big shots and that was impacting his normal style of play.
In walked in former KKR’s skipper Dinesh Karthik. A proven finisher in T20s for his state side Tamil Nadu and also in the IPL, this proved to be his finest 20 minutes in Indian colours. Not to forget that his team needed to score at a RPO of 17 in the last two overs, plus the fact that his side were considered favourites and he had to avoid Bangladesh from winning the Nidahas trophy.
The last overs of this thrilling and enthralling finale would be etched in the memory of fans even now. Karthik ripped apart Bangladesh in just the 8 deliveries that he faced, smashing 22 runs in the 19th over bowled by Rubel Hossain. The clarity and focus with which he went about his batting was something special to see, as not only did he have to do what he did, his partner Vijay Shankar was unable to make things easier for him.
The last over was extremely tense and nervous for all concerned. Soumya Sarkar was asked to bowl the crucial over after Rubel almost gave away the complete advantage to India by conceding 22 runs in the 19th over. Sarkar did a great job as he just gave three runs in the first three balls.
For those who missed seeing this madness unfold Live, catch this highlights package to experience the thrill of that fantastic, edge of the seat thriller! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPwVCIvO7tg
Everyone was predicting a Bangladesh win and one could sense the pressure of finishing the game, almost finishing Vijay Shankar. He somehow managed to score a boundary in the fourth delivery before getting out in the penultimate delivery of the match. Luckily for India, they crossed and DK was on strike for the last ball- his side needed 4 to win of 1 ball.
DK exhibited enormous amount of calmness and finished the game off in style! His knock of 29 runs of 8 balls went on to make India the Nidahas trophy champions along with providing us fans with the pleasure of having witnessed one of the best finishes in T20I cricket in recent memory!
Thank you DK for the memories, it’s a pleasure listening to your analysis & thoughts for either Sky Sports or Cricbuzz! A cricketing career that had its fair share of highs & lows but this last over finish against Bangladesh could go down as probably his finest performances as player & it was really nice reminiscing that nail bitter of a finish with you all!!
Courtesy: Written by Raghav Ravichandran (Cricket Analyst)