IPL 2018 | Dinesh Karthik believes KKR can reach the knockouts

KKR succumbed to a heavy defeat last night as Mumbai Indians outplayed them in all the departments at the Eden Gardens. The loss was so frustrating that even owner Shah Rukh Khan had to tweet an apology to their fans after the game. His disappointment was shared by skipper Dinesh Karthik, but the skipper seemed positive about KKR’s chances to qualify for the playoffs.

“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 102-run loss to Mumbai Indians. 

For the first time this season, KKR have not been placed in the top four and have a net run-rate in negative. And Karthik felt that the best way to rectify it would be to get some good wins under the belt. He credited Mumbai for their excellent performance and stated that the players would have to forget about it and move on to next game.

“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.

KKR have the smallest squads in IPL with 19 players in it with their choices very limited, but Karthik insisted that he has trust in his playing 11 and that has been his strength so far. 

“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.

Kuldeep Yadav, who had enjoyed an economy of just over 8 until the last game and helped KKR to control the game in the middle overs, got hit for five sixes by Ishan Kishan, four of which were on consecutive balls. Karthik, however, played it down.

“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.

KKR never looked near in control of the match and lost wickets at regular intervals. They were finally bowled out on the score of 108 in 18.1 overs. Karthik pointed out that 190 was the par score on the wicket and the scoreboard pressure got to them.

“It was the 20 runs over that made a lot of difference. We succumbed to pressure, played a few bad shots and lost too many wickets in the power play. Then, obviously it is going to be hard,” added Karthik.

KKR will play their next match against KXIP on Saturday at Holkar stadium in Pune.