Dinesh Karthik 2.0, the finisher

Just when everyone thought that Dinesh Karthik was a spent force in cricket given the manner in which the Indian national selectors shut the door on him following Indiarsquos loss in the 2019 World Cup semifinal to New Zealand at Manchester the veteran wicketkeeperbatsman insists hersquos lsquonot done yetrsquoKarthik 36 who had turned to commentary during the ICC World Test Championship final last June has been clinically finishing games for Royal Challengers Bangalore in this Indian Premier League something chief selector Chetan Sharma amp Co would be keenly watchingHe has done it twice so far First a sevenball 14 not out as RCB crossed the line against Kolkata Knight Riders at the DY Patil Stadium on March 30 Then his unbeaten 23ball 44 that set up a fourwicket win over Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede on TuesdaylsquoTraining differentlyrsquoKarthik ably supported by Shahbaz Ahmedrsquos 26ball 45 ensured RCB comfortably chased down the 170run target with five balls to spareldquoI think I made a conscious effort to do justice to myself because I felt last year I couldrsquove done a little betterrdquo Karthik told Star Sports after receiving the PlayeroftheMatch award on the nightldquoThe way I trained was a little differentmdashhats off to the person I trained with He put me through some things that were very important for me in life as well I say that only because I was making a conscious effort to tell myself that Irsquom not done yet I have a goal I want to achieve something and I tried my best in terms of preparationrdquoIn RCBrsquos first game Karthik provided the late push with a 14ball unbeaten 32 cameo against Punjab Kings on March 27On Tuesday when he came out to bat RCB were almost out of the contest needing 83 off 45 balls RR skipper Sanju Samson brought back veteran offie R Ashwin who had conceded 18 runs off his first three overs to counter Karthik but the move backfired Karthik treated his Tamil Nadu statemate with disdain scoring 21 runs off the 14th over changing the complexion of the game Karthik sweetly timed the ball and went about his business calmlyRCB skipper Faf du Plessis appreciated Karthikrsquos effort and felt that he is playing his ldquobest cricketrdquo and that he should consider putting ldquohis name back into international cricketrdquo Karthik credited his focused preparation for this success To adapt to the finisherrsquos role he began playing in the middleorder for corporate outfit India Cements in the leadup to the IPL His batting drills and match simulations were all specifically planned keeping in mind the finisherrsquos roleThrust on whiteball cricketldquoI made a conscious effort to play whiteball cricket I donrsquot play fourday cricket anymore The quantity of matches have reduced so I need to play that many more games as practice matches and scenarios So I try and do a lot more of thatgoing to grounds and a lot of people have been with me in this journeyldquoThose are the hours that you put in when nobodyrsquos watching and those are the most important hours Because when it comes off here itrsquos great The setup is beautiful you have a lot of people and theyrsquore helping me a lot but the real work is done in the leadup to the tournament which is what Irsquoll give a lot of credit tordquo explained KarthikAhmed with whom Karthik stitched a crucial 67run sixthwicket stand acknowledged his senior partnerrsquos guidance ldquoHe was constantly guiding me on what shots to play and how to go about the chase It was certainly very helpfulrdquo said Shahbaz