Bengaluru (Karnataka): Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Dinesh Karthik, who has earned 'finisher' epithet, became the player with the highest strike rate in the death overs (17-20 overs) and the second-highest run-getter in the death overs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 following his outstanding cameo against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Monday.
Virat Kohli's batting masterclass combined with Karthik and Mahipal Lomror's finishing touches sealed a four-wicket win for the RCB against PBKS at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru at the IPL 2024.
The right-hand batter played an unbeaten knock of 28 runs from just 10 balls which was laced with three fours and two sixes in his innings. In this innings the 38-year-old cricketer scored runs at a strike rate of 280. With this knock, the Chennai-born player became the second-highest run-getter in the death overs (17-20 overs).
He has scored 372 runs at a strike rate of 203.27 and is just behind Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Shimron Hetmyer who has scored 383 runs at a strike rate of 197.42. The other three batters in the top five list are Rinku Singh of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with 351 runs at a strike rate of 195, Tim David from Mumbai Indians (MI) who has scored 290 runs at a strike rate of 207.14 and at the fifth number comes left-hand batter David Miller from Gujarat Titans (GT) who has scored 285 runs at a strike rate of 161.01.
Coming to the match, Punjab Kings (PBKS) saw their batters getting starts but none of them could convert them into something big. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (45 in 37 balls with five fours and a six), Jitesh Sharma (27 in 20 balls with a four and two sixes) and Sam Curran (23 in 17 balls) played decent knocks, but on a batting-friendly Chinnaswammy pitch, PBKS could muster only 176/6 in 20 overs.
Mohammed Siraj (2/26) and Glenn Maxwell (2/29) took two scalps each. Yash Dayal and Alzarri Joseph took a wicket each. In the chase of 177, RCB lost wickets at regular intervals, but Virat (77 in 49 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes) held the ship steady at the other end.
After his dismissal, things got tricky for RCB, but strong finish from Dinesh Karthik (28* in 10 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Mahipal Lomror (17* in eight balls, with two fours and a six) guided the team to a four-wicket win with four balls left. Harpreet Brar (2/13) and Kagiso Rabada (2/23) were the pick of the bowlers for PBKS. Kohli was awarded Player of the Match for his marvellous innings.
