Dinesh Karthik was the hero for India on the last night who played a match-winning furious knock of unbeaten 29 runs off just 8 balls to secure India’s victory in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy final. Now, Indian stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that Karthik was upset when his batting order demoted.

Rohit believed that it was important for Karthik to take the finishing role in that important game. That was the reason why Rohit sent him to bat at no.7 in the final.

In the post-match press conference, Rohit said, “When I got out, I went and sat in the dugout and Dinesh was quite upset that he didn’t bat at No]. 6. But I told him: ‘I want you to bat and finish off the game for us, because whatever skill you have, it will be required in the last three or four overs’. That is the only reason he was not batting at No. 6 in the 13th over when I got out. He was upset with that, but he’ll be quite happy now how he finished off the game.”

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Talking about Karthik’s ability to play in the death situation, Rohit described, “I have to go back to the kinds of shots that he has in his books – it suits him to finish off games at the death where you have to use that one fielder that is inside the circle – either fine leg, or mid-off or short third man. He can always play those ramp shots which he played in the end to Rubel Hossain. He knows that. I thought Mustafizur [Rahman] would bowl probably the 18th and the 20th overs, and we wanted an experienced guy to handle him. We knew he would come out with his off-cutters and Dinesh probably would have been a better choice at that point.”

Karthik is with the Indian cricket team continuously since the middle of the Test series (middle of January) on the South African soil. While Karthik didn’t get much chance in that tour (played the only T20I), has featured in all the matches of the T20I tri-series (Nidahas Trophy). In this trophy, Karthik was never dismissed in his all five innings where he scored total 85 runs.

Talking about the 32-years old Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, Rohit said, “He was with us on the previous tour in South Africa and didn’t get much game time. To do what he did today will give him a lot of confidence going forward. Most important thing he has is belief in himself. Whatever situation comes, he’s ready – whether he bats up the order or down the order. That’s the kind of guy we need in our team.”

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Rohit also praised the 18-years old off-spinner Washington Sundar. Sundar won the Player of the Tournament award after finishing as a joint most wicket-taker in the tournament with 8 wickets (Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also took 8 wickets).

Speaking of the young Indian spinner, the Indian opening batsman claimed, “I think throughout the series Sundar’s bowling has been magical for us. What he has done with the new ball is quite incredible, I would say. Not anyone can just take the pressure of bowling within the Powerplay. Not to forget he also got wickets at the same time. He didn’t allow any of the opposition to score runs really in the Powerplay.

Rohit further added, “The skillset that he has – he’s quite courageous to do what he wants to do in the middle. It’s not just one or two games. He consistently bowled in the Powerplay, and always kept us in the games. We identified him as one of the promising talents who can play for the national team for many years. This tournament will give him a lot of confidence.”