Karthik remains hopeful of KKR making playoffs
KOLKATA : It was a surrender so abject that Shah Rukh Khan tweeted an apology to fans of KKR. Skipper Dinesh Karthik shared his boss’s disappointment but, displaying remarkable sangfroid, said KKR can survive the league stage.
“Do I feel the playoffs are possible? Definitely yes. We have three games and we take one game at a time. If we win them, we can go through. I believe in that and I want my teammates to believe in that. At this point, that is the important thing,” said Karthik after the 102run loss to Mumbai Indians here on Wednesday.
For the first time this term, KKR are out of the top four and have a negative nett run rate. The best way to rectify that is to notch up good wins, said Karthik. For that KKR have to show the nous and the nerve to live down a performance that wasn’t short of a nightmare. They have managed that once, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore two days after being mauled by Delhi Daredevils. They have three days to do that again, away to Kings XI. “That’s the biggest challenge, isn’t it for a sportsperson? You are going to get nights like these where you have been outplayed. You have got to give credit to Mumbai Indians; they played some real good cricket, they batted really well in the middle and that changed the course of the match. As a sportsman, these are the challenges you face: how quickly you are able to forget this and move on to the next match,” said Karthik.
And Karthik made it clear that he won’t ring in wholesale changes to the line-up. As it is with a 19-member squad, KKR are not exactly spoilt for choice but Karthik said it is important for him to trust his playing 11. “One of my strengths as a captain if that I have an 11, I have trusted it. That is something very important as a leader. I would like to believe in my team,” he said.
Karthik will hope some of that belief will rub on Kuldeep Yadav. Part of the KKR spin troika, the chinaman bowler got hit for five sixes by Ishan Kishan, four of them coming in successive deliveries. “He’s somebody who has given us a lot of control in the middle overs and when he goes for runs, it’s hard. But these things happen,” said Karthik.
He felt 190 was the par score. “It was the 20 runs over that made a difference. We succumbed to pressure.”
› We have three games and we take one game at a time. If we win, we can go through. I believe in that and I want my teammates to believe in that.
DINESH KARTHIK, On KKR’s chances