During the final of the of the Nidahas Trophy 2018, when India was chasing a target of 167 and they needed a required run rate of more than 10, India’s stand-in skipper decided to send all-round Vijay Shankar ahead of the experienced Dinesh Karthik, which left a lot of fans puzzled. However, it was Karthik’s innings of 29* off 8 balls helped India to go over the line, after which Rohit revealed why he held his wicketkeeper-batsman back.

Needing 34 off the last 12 balls, India pulled off a tense 167-run chase to win by four wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium. Rohit catalyzed the chase with a 42-ball 56, but it required a special knock from Dinesh to take India past the finish line ahead of the Tigers.

Also read: Dinesh Karthik's courageous knock

Talking about holding back Karthik, Sharma said, “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. 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.”

Man-of-the-Match Karthik smashed medium pacer Rubel Hossain for two sixes and as many fours as India scored 22 runs in the penultimate over which kept their hopes alive, requiring 12 runs off the final over.

India lost Vijay Shankar on the penultimate ball of the match but Karthik held his nerve to hit Soumya Sarkar for a six, triggering wild celebrations in the dressing room. Talking about the same, Rohit said, “Very happy to see Dinesh doing what he did, he didn’t get much game time until now, but he showed his power. We knew he (Karthik) could finish off the game for us.”

Also read: Rohit Sharma’s 14th half-century catalyst in Indian win

Earlier, Bangladesh rode on Sabbir Rahman’s 50-ball 77 to post 166/8 after recovering from a top-order stutter, but that wasn’t enough for stopping men in blue to lift the Nidahas Trophy 2018.

Praising the support from the crowd, Sharma said, “Brilliant game, brilliant for the crowd who have come out in numbers. The support we got here from this crowd was brilliant, it would be a bit different if we were playing Sri Lanka but I would like to thank them for their show tonight.”

Incredible end to what had been such a great season. What a way to pull off a victory. Magnificent from the entire unit 👏👏 🇮🇳 @BCCI

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) March 18, 2018