India vs Bangladesh | Rohit Sharma claims Dinesh Karthik was unhappy with his demotion to No.7
BCCI
Rohit Sharma has revealed that Dinesh Karthik, who played in the finisher role in the final of the Nidahas Trophy, was unhappy when he was demoted to No.7. The Indian skipper has also claimed that when the match entered the last stage he was prepared for a super over against Bangladesh.
The final of the Nidahas Trophy was played between India and Bangladesh in Sri Lanka where the former needed 34 runs off 12 balls. Vijay Shankar and Manish Pandey were struggling in finding their groove in the penultimate over. Pandey lost his wicket after scoring 28 which introduced Karthik at No. 7. It seemed like Bangladesh had the game all won but the Tamil Nadu lad played a blistering knock of 29 runs off eight deliveries to help the side seal the title in dramatic fashion. While speaking after the match, Rohit disclosed that Karthik was unhappy with his demotion.
“I told him - I want you to bat and finish off the game for us because whatever skill you have, it will be required in the last three or four overs. He can do that for us. That is the only reason he was not batting at six in the 13th over when I got out. He was quite upset with that. He’ll now be quite happy how he finished off the game. To do what he did today will give him a lot of confidence going forward,” Rohit said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
The final over was, bowled by Soumya Sarkar, got the Tigers the wicket of Vijay Shankar on the second last ball of the match and left India needing five runs off one ball. Karthik came up with a consummate finish as he hit the bowler for a six over the cover region. The stand-in skipper claimed that he was well prepared for the super over as well if the need has arisen.
“Last ball, I had already gone inside to wear my pads thinking about a super over. So I did not see the last ball. The way the celebrations kicked off in the dressing room, I got to know we have won and Dinesh has hit that six (sic),” Rohit said.
After a sub-par South Africa series, Rohit Sharma struggled in the first match of the Nidahas Trophy as well. The Indian opener found his momentum in the second last match of the series and in the final where he scored his 14th T20I half-century. He tried to explain the situation which was faced by Vijay Shankar who was part of the last over but lost his wicket in the fifth delivery of 20th over.
“We always knew that
