Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik wondered why Tilak Varma batted at one drop in the first T20I at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on Thursday against New Zealand.
Chasing 226 runs for the win, India got off to a superb start with openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma adding 93 runs off just 35 balls. However, Varma, who has mostly batted at number five in the recent past, was promoted in the batting but he struggled to get going, managing six runs off 11 balls.
Ishan Kishan, who is India’s number three batter and also the number one batter in the ICC T20I rankings, batted at number five and could only manage a solitary run off three balls.
“I thought it was a very clinical chase, the openers set the tone. Both of them went gung-ho in the powerplay. Through the middle, it was Shreyas Iyer. It’s questionable why they sent Tilak Varma ahead of Ishan Kishan, there must be a reason for it, probably giving him an opportunity to bat or the fact that Ishan Kishan was out of the field and could not bat at No.3. Whatever, we have to wait for that.” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, Karthik hailed India’s batting depth as they successfully chased down 226 runs despite losing their way after the Powerplay overs. Naman Dhir added the finishing touches with a quickfire knock of 42 runs off just 15 balls.
“After that, what you saw was a Naman Dhir show in terms of how to pace an innings. He did not take too much time. Right from the get-go, he got some good boundaries. The depth in batting at No.8, when you have a batter, somebody like a Nitish Kumar Reddy, walks into this situation, you feel that the game is pretty much done and dusted. If you didn’t have that, if you had an Arshdeep Singh coming in, you would feel slightly differently, and the pressure would be on the batter in the crease to make sure he harbors the strike, and a lot of the dynamics would change. So, if you put everything into context, I think it was a good chase,” Dinesh Karthik said.
The second T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on Saturday.
