Best Innings of Dinesh Karthik in IPL
In the Indian Premier League, Dinesh Karthik has perfected the role of a wanderer. The player who, when he was bursting into the scene, was compared to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, did not have as settled a career as the former Indian skipper. He has played for six different franchises so far.
But just when things were looking a bit gloomy for him, he pulled off something spectacular for India in the Nidahas Trophy. He then found himself at the helm of things at Kolkata Knight Riders, and many thought perhaps the vagabond has now settled. But given how KKR have performed last season under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik, nothing is a given certainty.
Top 5 Best innings of Dinesh Karthik in IPL
This year is going to be enormously crucial, and he will need to get some big scores under his belt. He already has a few big innings, so let us have a look at the top 5 Best Batting Performance of Dinesh Karthik in IPL:
5. 69 (44) vs Kings XI Punjab
Our first mention is as innings from the game between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab back in 2014. Karthik had a sublime 2013 season, but things started to go downhill from 2014. Having said that, this match caught him at his very best. Batting first, Delhi lost opener Murali Vijay in the third over.
From there onwards, Dinesh Karthik consolidated the innings and built up a good partnership with Englishman Kevin Pietersen. He played a knock of 69 runs from 44 balls, which contained six boundaries and a lone biggie. His score helped Delhi reach 164 runs, but unfortunately, it was too little too low.
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4. 65 (34) vs Delhi Capitals
Best Innings of Dinesh Karthik in IPL: The 2017 season was the year of redemption for Dinesh Karthik, who now played for the Gujarat Lions. In the match against Karthik’s former team Delhi Capitals, Gujarat had a horrible start. They lost both openers in Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum inside two overs.
Here again, Karthik played the role of a sheet anchor and built up a partnership with captain Suresh Raina. He scored 65 runs from just 34 deliveries. His innings contained five boundaries and as many sixes. Karthik’s blast of a knock, alongside Raina‘s controlled 77 helped the Capitals score a mammoth 214.
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3. 69 (33) vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala
We go way back all the way to 2011 for our third mention. Around this time, Karthik wore the red of Kings XI Punjab. This time, he was on the chasing side as Kochi Tuskers Kerala batted first and scored 178 runs. Just like the previous mentions, Karthik’s team had a shaky start.
They lost both openers Paul Valthaty and Adam Gilchrist inside five overs. Karthik then switched on his usual ‘partnership building’ mode, this time with Australian Shaun Marsh by his side. He played a stunning knock of 69 runs from just 33 games, which helped Punjab inch significantly closer to the target, with quite a few overs to spare. After his dismissal, David Hussey got the job done.
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2. 86 (48) vs Delhi Capitals
Best Batting Performance of Dinesh Karthik in IPL: As mentioned earlier, the 2013 season was by far Karthik’s best ever in the IPL, in terms of runs scored. This is the only season where he scored over 500 runs. He played for the now most successful team in the competition – Mumbai Indians.
In this match against another former side of him, Mumbai Indians had a shocking start. They lost Ricky Ponting for a duck, while master blaster Sachin Tendulkar could score only 1 run. Karthik then built up a partnership again, this time with Rohit Sharma. He amassed 86 runs from 48 deliveries, which included a staggering figure of 14 boundaries.
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1. 97* (50) vs Rajasthan Royals
Karthik is yet to score a century in IPL, but on this particular occasion, he came agonizingly close. It was a match between his side Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. Following the customary pattern, Karthik’s side had a poor start and lost both their openers quickly.
What’s different this time around is the fact that Karthik couldn’t really build up a match-winning partnership, as wickets kept falling continuously at one end. But he held on to the other end and batted till the very last. From 50 balls, he amassed 97 runs. His innings had seven fours and as many as nine sixes. Though it helped the Knights to reach the 175-run mark, it was ultimately inadequate as Rajasthan Royals chased it down with four balls to spare.
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