Colombo: Skipper Rohit Sharma is relieved that his gamble of holding back Dinesh Karthik behind rookie all-rounder Vijay Shankar paid off after the stumper’s last ball six helped India to a four-wicket win over Bangladesh and to lift the Nidahas T20 tri-series trophy.
With five runs needed off one delivery, Karthik slammed Soumya Sarkar for a flat six over extra cover to seal the deal in India’s favour at the R.Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday.
“He has batted in that position in a list of games for his state teams. Even when he was playing for Mumbai Indians (in the Indian Premier League) with me, I knew his ability with the bat,” Rohit told reporters in the post-match presser.
“He’s got some different types of skill shots that would probably be required at that point at the death overs. That was the only reason we held him back. I can proudly say it paid off,” he added.
Rohit, however defended the young guns — Manish Pandey and Shankar — who failed to step on the gas during the chase, which increased the pressure on Karthik. The Tamil Nadu stumper struck an unbeaten 8-ball 29 to help India go over the line in the 167-run chase.
“Dinesh and Manish and Vijay (Shankar) knew that the pressure is on them, so one mistake here and there, and pressure does play a big part. That’s exactly what happened,” Sharma said.
“We knew he (Karthik) could finish off the game for us,” added the skipper.
Rohit also heaped praises on the Bangladeshis for taking the match to a nail-biting finish.
“(Bangladesh) play fearless cricket, it’s always good. Sometimes, it can bite you when things don’t go your way but that is the style of cricket they want to play,” he said.
“They are certainly a very good team… in the last three years, we’ve seen how they’ve changed their style of cricket.
“A few of the guys who are experienced are nurturing the younger guys,” he added.(IANS)
