Former India cricketer and two-time IPL winning skipper for KKR Gautam Gambhir believes that current captain Dinesh Karthik should bat lower the order in the lineup. He added that Sunil Narine should be dropped from the top-order and adjusted at No. 8 or 9 in the playing XI.
Karthik hasn’t had the start that he would’ve wanted in IPL 2020 underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The wicket-keeper batsman has amassed 37 runs in 4 innings, averaging 9.25, with 23-ball 30 against Mumbai Indians as his high score so far this season.
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Chasing 229 in the match against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Sharjah, Karthik (6) promoted Andre Russell (13) at No.4, himself batted at No.5, with Eoin Morgan (44) scoring those big runs at No. 6. Not to forget, Rahul Tripathi came out to bat at No. 8 when the asking rate was 107 runs in 39 deliveries.
“Rahul Tripathi goes up the order, Dinesh Karthik plays at No. 6, not before Morgan and not before Russell as well. Probably Sunil Narine goes to bat at 8 or 9. If Morgan bats No. 4 and Russell at 5 and Dinesh Karthik to follow,” Gambhir told Raunak Kapoor in ESPNCricinfo T20 Timeout Show.
Your best bowlers should bowl the death overs: Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir felt that there was probably a miscalculation to send spinner Varun Chakravarthy in the 19th over, as he earlier picked 29/1 in his three overs but ended up conceding 20 runs.
“Your best bowlers need to bowl the 18th, 19th and 20th over, unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine – if a spinner has to bowl. Even Mavi did a fabulous job in the previous games and so did Andre Russell. You have got to give your best bowlers.
Yes, Varun Chakravarty did bowl well in the first few overs but you cannot expect a young spinner to be bowling the 19th over and that too in Sharjah, probably it was a miscalculation.”
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Gambhir felt that the Men in Purple and Gold were a bit expensive as they gave away 20-plus runs. He praised the Delhi Capitals’ pacer Anrich Nortje for backing up and picking figures of 4-0-33-2 in his 4 overs, with most notably just 5 runs and a wicket in the 19th over that actually changed the outcome of the game.
“It is never finished till it is finished, that’s what we saw in Sharjah. These are too many runs, probably, 20-25 runs more than what KKR was expecting.
It was the brilliance of Nortje, just backing himself which actually changed the fortune of the match.”
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Gambhir heaped praise on Shreyas Iyer’s match-winning 88* off 38 deliveries that comprised 7 fours and 6 fours at a monstrous striking rate of over 230.
“We keep talking about how he plays spin but today he showed that he can dominate fast bowlers as well,” said the 38-year-old.
Currently placed fifth in the points table, the Kolkata Knight Riders would play their next game against MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on October 7 in Abu Dhabi.
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