Former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha has a piece of advice for KKR wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik after he came good against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He scored 22 off 9 deliveries coming into bat at number six and in the process to the score to over 180. He built on the already good work that was done by the Kolkata top-order. Ojha feels that Karthik will be best suited to either open the innings or bat at number three.
IPL 2020 saw Dinesh Karthik batting at various positions from three to seven. He scored 169 runs in 14 games at an average of 14.08 with one half-century, statistically his third-worst season after 2015 and 2008. Now Ojha feels that he should get enough deliveries to bat for his side. Calling Karthik a batsman of Suryakumar Yadav‘s caliber, Ojha believes Karthik should bat higher than his usual position this year.
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Dinesh Karthik Should Bat Higher Up The Order: Pragyan Ojha
“I believe Dinesh Karthik opening or coming one down will do wonders to KKR because he is a guy if he bats long, he is so versatile. He is the pro version of Suryakumar Yadav. That’s what I feel, I have seen right from my childhood,” Ojha told Sports Today.
KKR’s batting line-up clicked well in the first game with Shubman Gill (15) and Nitish Rana (80) adding 50 for the first wicket. Rahul Tripathi (58) then added a 93-run stand with Rana after which Karthik provided the perfect finishing kick to the innings.
Andre Russell disappointed once again scoring just 5. He seems to be yet not over his IPL 2020 failure when he scored just 117 runs in 10 games. The season before he scored 510 runs and hit 52 sixes. He also picked up 11 wickets. Rusell was trapped by Rashid Khan who bowled a flighted delivery to get him caught at the deep mid-on trying to attempt a big shot. Shakib Al Hasan scored three in his first outing with the bat for KKR.
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