Nitish Rana's run-out was the turning point in the chase: Dinesh Karthik

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lost the second qualifier to the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens and their impressive campaign came to an end. It was an all-round performance from Rashid Khan which helped the Orange Army go past the formidable unit of the KKR. But they were ahead in the chase of 175 runs for most parts of it only to lose their plot in the final few overs. However, Dinesh Karthik has lamented the silly run-out of Nitish Rana as the turning point in the game which brought the SRH back into the contest.

The Knight Riders had started briskly courtesy of their openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine. The latter was especially severe up front and had raked in the runs off one of the best bowlers of the opponents, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. After his wicket fell, Nitish Rana and stitched a decent stand of 47 runs and at 87/1 in the 10th over, it looked a cakewalk for the Men in Purple and Gold. But in the same over, Rana slipped while taking the second run after hitting the ball to the deep mid-wicket, and eventually was caught short of his crease on 22.

Uthappa also played a poor stroke

Dinesh Karthik rued the run-out of the left-hander in the chase and also felt that they should’ve played Rashid Khan better. They had manipulated the Afghanistan leggie well in their previous two encounters. “Rana’s wicket changed the course of the game. If he had pushed at that stage, the game could have been ours. It was a silly dismissal and very crucial at that stage,” the skipper of the KKR said at the post-match press conference.

He was also critical of Robin Uthappa who went for an unnecessary reverse sweep off Rashid only to see his leg-stump go for a walk. “Robin Uthappa played a poor stroke and I think he will also admit that it was not a great shot at that stage. Till now we have actually played him well, during the two times that he has bowled to us, we batted well against him. The whole context of Rashid Khan is the way we approach him, you know in a very positive way, which is good,” Karthik added.

Karthik happy with the youngsters

The KKR franchise has to be credited for giving opportunities to the youngsters and they were able to bring the best out of them during the crunch games. Karthik was extremely happy with the way the likes of Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill and Prasidh Krishna who put their hands up when the team needed the most. “It was a good campaign. We played as a team and have some good memories. We have found some fine young players such as Shubman Gill, Prasidh Krishna and Nitish Rana and we can look forward to them in the future,” he concluded.

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