MUMBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) might have lost three games in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 but Dinesh Karthik is optimistic of his side catching the momentum in the upcoming matches.
CSK defeated KKR by 18 runs on Wednesday. At one stage, KKR was left reeling at 31/5 but Andre Russell and Pat Cummins played knocks of 54 and 66* to keep Eoin Morgan's side in the hunt. But CSK managed to hold their nerve to register a thrilling victory.
No one from KKR's top-order managed to stay at the crease for a long time as Deepak Chahar scalped four wickets. In the end, the target proved too much for Morgan's side to chase. CSK won the game by 18 runs at the Wankhede Stadium.
"We were in a bit of a crisis but to pull the team from that situation and try to make a match out of it, I felt happy about that and would have been much happier had we crossed the line," Karthik told host broadcaster Star Sports.
"One game against Mumbai was very close, it was in our hands until we goofed it up and RCB played some good cricket on that day. Last game we fought tooth and nail and were not able to get over the line but that is the beauty of the IPL," he further said.
"It is still early in the tournament and three losses do not mean anything, you just need to win a game and catch the momentum and everything will go your way," Karthik added. Karthik too played his part as he smashed 40 runs off 24 balls before being trapped in front of the stumps by Lungi Ngidi.
"Very happy with the knock. Personally, I like batting in Mumbai especially coming from Chennai even though I am a homegrown Chennai boy, it felt good to be in Mumbai and it is a good wicket to bat on," said Karthik.
Talking about Punjab Kings batsman Shahrukh Khan, Karthik said, "I was really happy with how Shahrukh was doing, just the fact that there are so many players from Tamil Nadu, 13 of them right now, happy to see them and they will learn a lot."