IPL 2020 | When Banton plays he has to open, Tripathi is versatile and can adapt, asserts Dinesh Karthik
There were a lot of question marks over KKR's decision to open with Tom Banton and demoting Rahul Tripathi against RCB but Karthik revealed that as Rahul is versatile, he can adapt but Banton has to open when he plays. RCB crushed KKR on Monday in Sharjah by 82 runs to carry on their momentum.
KKR might well be placed at the fourth position in the IPL 2020 but their journey has been controversial in the sense that there has been intense scrutiny over the decisions made by Dinesh Karthik and the team management in regards to the batting order. It isn't for the first time, as last year as well, there were question marks over Andre Russell's batting position and the openers respectively. Dinesh Karthik surprised one and all when he decided to boost his batting unit by including Tom Banton in place of Sunil Narine in Sharjah on Monday.
It meant that Rahul Tripathi, who starred for the Knights just a few days before against CSK, was demoted in the batting order just after one failure. The move to open with Banton backfired. But Dinesh Karthik cleared the air in the post-match presser that when Banton plays, he opens, for Tripathi, he can adapt to different positions.
"Yes, it was a little slow wicket as Virat Kohli mentioned and ideal for batting first. When Tom Banton plays, he has to open the batting because that's where he is best at. Rahul Tripathi is someone, who is versatile and can adapt to any situation he is sent in. So, we made sure that Banton batted in top two as he has opened and done well in international cricket as well," stated the KKR skipper in the post-match press conference
Dinesh Karthik also stated that Kolkata failed to make inroads and lauded AB de Villiers for making things look easy. He also added that there are fixed batting positions for players like Gill, Rana and Morgan and only a few others have to be flexible and go in as per the needs and demands of the game.
"I think at various points of time, we had the opportunity to create inroads but they got away with few shots. Time and again, AB de Villiers does it, he comes and scores runs so easily in last five overs and make it look much easier than it is."
"There are few guys who are consistent with their batting position like Gill, Rana and Morgan, its only the others that are coming depending on the situation. We sent in those who we feel can best adapt to the situation and play the best possible game for themselves," DK stated.