Faf du Plessis reveals his plan to get the in-form Dinesh Karthik out to bat

Bangalore inched closer to a place in the top four of the Indian T20 League 2022 with an emphatic win over Hyderabad in their last match. Bangalore batted first in the match and their batters displayed excellent batsmanship on a slowish wicket to post a big total of 192 runs in their 20 overs. The Bangalore bowlers also looked in great rhythm as they dismissed the opposition for 125 runs and won the match by 67 runs.

While Du Plessis and Rajat Patidar laid the foundation for Bangalore, it was Dinesh Karthik’s cameo that took Bangalore to the formidable total. He scored 30 of 8 balls scoring 25 runs in the last over which gave his team the momentum that they carried forward in their bowling effort. Notably, Faf du Plessis opened the innings and stayed not out till the end scoring 73 runs off 50 deliveries.

At the post-match presentation, Faf revealed that towards the end he was contemplating ‘retiring out’ to bring Dinesh Karthik into the crease. He also stated that with the type of form Karthik is in they were thinking of giving the maximum number of deliveries.

“If he (Dinesh Karthik) is hitting sixes like that, we want to get him in and bat as long as possible. He’s just so clear. To be honest, I was actually trying to get out because I was so tired, to get DK in. We were contemplating- myself ‘retiring out’. And then, we lost that wicket. DK is in such good form. It was a tricky wicket. A lot of guys, their first few balls, they struggled,”- Du Plessis said.

Speaking of the match, Wanindu Hasaranga was brilliant with the ball for Bangalore. He picked five wickets for 18 runs from their four overs. This helped Bangalore a lot in winning the match. With 7 wins in 12 matches, Bangalore is knocking at the door of the playoffs. The team management will hope that Du Plessis, Dinesh Karthik, Wanindu Hasaranga, and other important squad members perform to their best going into the business end of the tournament.