Mumbai, April 5 : Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis on Tuesday said a team needs a great character like Dinesh Karthik to win a game from nowhere. “To pull it out of nowhere, you need some great characters and DK is as great a character as you can get,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony here. Karthik’s composure under pressure is amazing and is really calm and is a great asset to the team, Du Plessis said. Talking about the overall match, he said, “The great thing about today once again was our ability to come back to win games out of nowhere.” “We bowled really well, upto the 18th over and then Jos (Buttler) got some good shots. We got a score which we thought was a bit above-par with the conditions and the surface spinning a bit. We started quite well though, but then Yuzi (Chahal) bowled really well to get them back in,” he added. On Shahbaz Ahmed’s 45 off 26 balls, Du Plessis said, “People think that since he (Shahbaz) is a small skinny guy, he can’t hit it long but he can smash it a long way. We didn’t bowl him today because of the wet ball and left-hander being around but he will definitely play a long part in this season.” On Virat Kohli’s fitness, Du Plessis said, “Virat is up there. I will tell that for his fans.” On winning the Player of Match trophy, Karthik said he made a conscious effort this year to do justice to himself because last year, he felt he could have done better. “The way I trained was much better this time around. Credit to the person who trained with me. I am making a conscious effort to tell myself that I am not done yet,” he said.
Karthik said he trains for situations and a lot of people have helped him to prepare for as many scenarios as possible by only playing white-ball cricket. “When I went in, we needed 12 runs per over and had to keep going. I train for these situations. To stay calm and know whom you can take down. I have tried to play as much white-ball cricket as possible, and prepare as many scenarios as possible,” he said. “Lot of people have spent time with me in this journey, leading upto the tournament and it’s the work that goes unnoticed mostly. I think T20 cricket, it’s mostly premeditating but you also need to be clear about where to target,” he added.
