Dinesh Karthik celebrates after hitting the winning shot. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Indian wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik shared a video of fans celebrating his Nidahas Trophy final heroics from 2018, on his Twitter handle on Saturday, March 18. The video shows fans watching the Nidahas Trophy final and erupting with joy as Karthik smacks the final ball of the match over deep extra cover to seal a thrilling win for India.
The 37-year-old took to Twitter and wrote, “This is what you play for ☺️🇮🇳,” while sharing the video with his fans. The video has got 265.2k views and 28.2 likes so far. The final of the T20 Tri-series played among India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Sri Lanka, is the most memorable moment of Karthik’s international career.
Watch the video here:
The Tamil-Nadu batter walked in to bat as the chances of India’s victory were diminishing with every dot ball and played a knock for the ages as a young team India registered an improbable win.
In reply to Bangladesh’s total of 166/8, India were 132/4 in 17 overs and required 35 off the last 18 balls. However, a wicket maiden 18th over bowled by Mustafizur Rehman mounted immense pressure on India.
With 34 needed off the last 12 balls, Dinesh Karthik walked to the middle and straight away got into the action without wasting any time. He ripped apart Rubel Hossain and smacked 22 runs in the 19th over to bring the equation down to needing 12 off the last over.
The tensions among the Indian fans rose as Vijay Shankar, who was struggling to find his batting rhythm and was batting on 13* off 17 balls, returned to strike with nine needed from the last three balls.
Despite being under immense pressure, he guided the fourth ball of the over for a boundary towards the third man. However, there was more twist in the tale as Shankar was dismissed off the very next ball with Mehidy Hasan Miraz taking a brilliant catch at long-off.
India needed five off the last ball to win as fans were holding their breath to know who was on strike for the last ball with the broadcaster showing a star against the new batter Washington Sundar’s name for a few seconds.
Finally, it was revealed that it was Karthik, who was on strike as the batters had crossed over before the catch was taken. India needed five to win off the last ball with the entire nation’s hopes pinned on the wicketkeeper batter.
Soumya Sarkar ran in to bowl the final delivery and kept it just under the wide line to make it difficult for the batter to fetch it. However, Karthik was able to get to the ball and played a majestic lofted extra cover drive to smack it for a six. The shot sent the entire nation into a frenzy as India registered a thrilling win.
The ‘man of the moment’ Dinesh Karthik was deservedly awarded ‘Player of the Match’ for his knock of 29* off 8 balls as India won the final by four wickets.
For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store