Former India opener turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Dinesh Karthik for playing a stunning knock against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Karthik came to bat when RCB needed 83 runs in 45 deliveries with just five wickets in hand. He smashed an unbeaten 44 off 23 balls and added a 67-run sixth-wicket partnership with Shahbaz Ahmed to take the team home.

While reviewing the RCB-RR encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “What a knock yaar because a knock should be like life, not long but memorable. This was a memorable knock, short knock, played few deliveries but made a huge impact. Dinesh Karthik won hearts with the calmness, authority and dominance with which he batted.”

Chopra further explained: “In fact, DK (Dinesh Karthik) has already played three crucial knocks, small knocks but very crucial ones. It was a short knock in the first match, where he made very good runs in a losing cause. In the second match, he played shots in the end when there was a lot of pressure, hit Andre Russell for a four and a six to win the match, cool as a cucumber.”

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Dinesh Karthik is unbeaten in IPL 2022 so far. While he smoked 32 runs off 14 deliveries against the Punjab Kings (PBKS), his unbeaten 14 off seven balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) helped the team win as well. However, Dinesh Karthik hit three fours and a six off Ravichandran Ashwin’s final over, which turned the table as well.

Aakash Chopra stated: “Here, it was a totally stuck match. Of course, Shahbaz was there at the other end, but after that, it was Wanindu Hasaranga and the bowlers. So you knew you are going to get stuck. But this player comes and shines. Firstly, fours and sixes all around the park in Ravichandran Ashwin’s over, I mean incredible. He played just for the carrom balls and not for the off-spinners. He picked Navdeep Saini as the guy whom he is going to hit and played Yuzi Chahal with his brain. He played with them (RR) in the end, he was absolutely outstanding.”

Aakash Chopra has also opined on Virat Kohli’s dismissal in a bizarre fashion. Kohli went for a non-existent run when David Willey played the ball to the leg side and he was found short of the crease as Sanju Samson’s throw to Yuzvendra Chahal at the non-striker’s end sent him into the dugout.

He said: “Willey played the ball on the leg side, there was no run. Virat Kohli goes halfway and then comes back. I mean but why, because Willey did not move at all, so it was not his fault at all. You never see Virat Kohli getting run out like that, I don’t even remember the last time he got run out. What exactly is happening, I don’t know.”

The former player again explained: “When he was getting run out, he didn’t put in the dive, he tried by stretching but didn’t put his life. It was strange, it was bizarre, it is so unlike Kohli but we are saying for the last six months that it is so unlike Kohli. Willey gets out off the next ball and then Sherfane Rutherford gets out after some time. He has said that he is not out from here but from the team itself because Glenn Maxwell will be available from the next match, he will play and Sherfane Rutherford will only be seen in the dugout.”

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Meanwhile, Rutherford managed only five runs before he was brilliantly caught by Navdeep Saini off Trent Boult. He smashed a crucial 28 in RCB’s last match against KKR as well.

He stated: “Anuj Rawat looked decent while he lasted. Faf du Plessis – it was a good opening partnership and then wickets fell one after the other. Yuzi Chahal was saying – you didn’t take me, no problem. Shahbaz was batting at No. 6, he had not bowled a single over and you feel halfway through why you are playing this match. But when he got the chance, how well he batted, right from the first ball.”

Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra has lauded Jos Buttler for the stunning knock. His unbeaten 70 off just 47 balls helped RR set a 170-run target for RCB as well. While talking about the Rajasthan Royals’ batting innings, Chopra added that Buttler’s knock was a lesson for everyone.

He explained: “It took him (Buttler) a long time but he stood there. A couple of catches were dropped of course, one was easy, but he stood there till the end, maybe ugly but let me be there till the end, let me see what happens in the end. He gave a huge lesson to all of us. He had scored a century in the last match but here the ball was not hitting the middle of his bat. And then you come to know what a game this is, you have to start at zero every day and you are only as good as your last innings.”

“Yashasvi Jaiswal wasted one more opportunity at the start. David Willey goes through the gap and hits his stump. Devdutt Padikkal was playing well, actually he was the aggressor. When Devdutt Padikkal got out, Sanju Samson came and Wanindu Hasaranga has kept Sanju Samson in his pocket, that you will come and I will dismiss you. Shimron Hetmyer hit a few slogs in the end, his bat was also not striking the ball well but the last three-four overs, there was a no-ball and then sixes were hit. Overall, they took you to a fighting score,” Aakash Chopra concluded.