'Enjoying playing under Gambhir'

New Delhi: Dinesh Karthik of Delhi Daredevils played a match-winning knock against the hapless Rajasthan Royals at the Kotla on Wednedsay night. In a media interaction, he opened up about the game, captain Gambhir and team-mates David Warner and Virender Sehwag.

Excerpts
On feeling the brunt of captaincy earlier: No, no I wouldn’t say captaincy was any burden at all. But having said that Gautam is leading us beautifully. I am really happy, with the fields he is setting, the angles he is setting its perfectand I am enjoying playing under his captaincy.

On the confusion about his batting position in the game against the Royals: Actually what happens was really funny (laughs) I was supposed to go in at Number 5, but then in the last game he was batting at Number 5. I was supposed to go [out to bat] and I went, put my helmet on, took my bat and was about to go in, but the guy said he has already gone in. Basically he (Jadhav) had just forgotten about it. After that I went in, but the umpire said no, he has to come in so [that’s how it turned out]. He kept saying sorry, but I said its alright.

On what did he do different: There was nothing different. The good thing was that there was a player like Gauti at the other end. He was just telling me to delay the inevitable basically to hit boundaries by taking chances. All he said was just to keep delaying that, till then just play the ball on its merit.

On the pressure on him when he went out to bat: Yeah definitely that’s one thing that we can improve on. We have been losing too many wickets in the powerplay. But we are lucky that the things are coming together. One batsman is playing through to the end, which is good for us. The flipside is I think if we lose lesser wickets it would be put less pressure on the batsmen coming in. But having said that we lost four wickets today. All Gautam said was that we will just bat for another five overs. We will just set a target of 35-40 runs. If we can achieve it, good enough, otherwise its okay, just its important for us to stay till the end. I just followed what he said.

On the altercation with Warne motivating him: It did not motivate me, I just played only two balls after that and got out (laughter all around). It was just that I could prove to myself. I didn’t run the single. Because I believed that I could hit a boundary and I just backed myself to hit a boundary and I hit it, so I was very happy, that’s all.

On Delhi being on the second position on the table: [It] definitely [feels good] but the table [does not offer a complete picture] is very false. Some teams have played two games ahead of the others. Some teams have not played two games. Its like some teams have played eight, some teams have played seven, some teams have played six. So its important that you don’t get carried by the table. We have got another six games to play, if we look to play well in all the six games, then obviously we are definitely going to be there in the semi-finals. But, having said that, we are getting one step closer to the semi-finals. Another couple of victories we are definitely going to be able to do that.

On playing two leg spinners is this demand of the wicket or is this something that you are going to carry on: No, I think it’s just one of those decisions I guess..Today, Gautam felt that probably two spinners will do the job for us. But I think Rajat Bhatia bowled beautifully the other day. He (Gambhir) just felt that Ladda could do the job for us today. And we all backed that. Basically it was just that.

On David Warner’s runs in the previous match and fielding effort today, an extraordinary performance: Obviously such things don’t happen in every match. Four catches and one run out is not that easy so hats off to him - it’s a very rare thing, especially in T20. [Even] as a keeper I don’t get four catches [in a match] so [Warner] made it look very easy… it’s amazing .. Obviously, the other day he contributed in batting and today he has contributed on the field. We can’t expect anything more from him.

On the strategy for Yusuf Pathan: I thought Yusuf fell to the trap. All Gautam did was to pull mid-on up and told him if you can just hit a six. If Collingwood had taken that catch things would have just worked out. It’s not that we planned, it was totally Gautam’s plan. He did it at that moment. And he believed that he could get Yusuf Pathan out that way. In all fairness, Collingwood tried his best, fantastic attempt, but it just didn’t come off. After that we know what Yusuf can do. He just two sixes and made it look so easy.. So yeah…

On Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra: Nannes, I am not sure how long he’s going to take, at least a week [to return to action]. Nehra again. I don’t know whether he is fit. He has started to bowl now, which is a good thing, but he is going to take the ball as and when he needs to play.

On Sehwag not firing in the last few matches: Sehwag is one of the top five batsmen in the tournament. We are not very worried about Sehwag. We all know what he can do when he gets going. We are definitely not worried. That’s the last worry for us. If there’s a worry for Daredevils, that’s the last worry for us. If he gets going, the match is won.