"You need to understand your strengths": Dinesh Karthik ahead of KKR clash
Apr 20, 2024
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 20 : Ahead of clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has said he has worked on his strengths and that has helped in getting good scores.
RCB and KKR will lock horns at Eden Gardens on Sunday. While KKR is in fine form and in the second spot with four wins and two losses, RCB have won just one game so far and lost the other six which has relegated them to the last spot in the points tally.
"Look, I think these days as a player, you need to understand your strengths. I'm not [Andre] Russell or [Kieron] Pollard who can mishit a ball and get a six for it. So I need to understand how I do. How I can beat gaps, what sort of balls I can hit for boundaries. And I realised there was a certain pattern in which bowlers were bowling to me. So, I needed to try and work out a solution for that," Karthik said in the pre-match press conference.
"When I practice, I try and understand, okay, this is what they're going to bowl at me. How am I going to get a boundary visualizing a field that is going to be in place for me? So I worked like that, and I worked backwards, and that's helped me, you know, really learn a couple of shots more, you know, at the back end. It's been great to go out there and express myself, and it's been thoroughly enjoyable to do what I'm doing for RCB as a finisher," the wicketkeeper-batter added.
Dinesh has been in fine touch during this season, scoring 226 runs in seven matches at an average of 75.33 with a strike rate of 205.45. He has struck two half-centuries, with the best score of 83. He has carried an inconsistent RCB line-up along with star batter Virat Kohli also coming up with some impressive innings.
RCB squad for IPL 2024: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Saurav Chauhan, Suyash Prabhudessai, Swapnil Singh, Rajan Kumar, Karn Sharma, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Mayank Dagar, Alzarri Joseph, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat, Manoj Bhandage, Yash Dayal, Himanshu Sharma.
