Dinesh Karthik famously enjoyed a second wind towards the latter stages of his career as a finisher in T20 cricket but signs of what he can do in those situations had started appearing in 2017/18 2018 Nidahas Trophy tri-series between India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, hosted by the latter. Karthik first pulled India over the line in a league game against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 39 in 25 balls and then, a few days later, in the final in which he faced just eight balls but ended becoming one of the enduring images from the tournament.
India were led by Rohit Sharma in the series, with Virat Kohli sitting it out. They had won the toss and chosen to bowl first. A 50-ball 77 from Sabbir Rahman and an unbeaten 19 off seven balls by Mehidy Hasan Miraz were the only highlights with the bat for Bangladesh as Yuzvendra Chahal’s 3/18 led the way in restricting them to a score of 166/8.
Rohit went ballistic in the powerplay, particularly in the second over in which he went 6, 4, 6 off consecutive balls from Mehidy Hasan Miraz. India lost Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina in the powerplay but remained well ahead of the game at the end of the sixth over largely thanks to Rohit keeping up the pace.
That changed in the middle overs, though, with spinners Rubel Hossain, captain Shakib-Al-Hasan and Nazmul Islam strangling India for runs. India could get just 16 runs between the 10th and 13th overs and soon, the pressure resulted in Rohit falling to Nazmul on 56 off 42 balls.
Manish Pandey then kept India in the game but his partner Vijay Shankar struggled to find any momentum. Pandey soon slowed down as well and by the time he fell to Mustafizur Rahman off the last ball of the 18th over, a wicket-maiden, he had scored just 28 runs off 27 balls.
And so the equation stood at India needing 34 to win off the last two overs when Karthik came in to bat. He faced the first ball of the over after Mustafizur’s which was bowled by the miserly Rubel and smashed two sixes and a our off the first three balls. Karthik and Shankar ran two off the second last ball and then scooped the last over long leg for a four, thus making it 22 runs off the 19th over.
The first ball from Soumya Sarkar was a wide down the leg side, then a dot to Shankar. Shankar then edged the second ball to extra cover for a single and then came another single off the third. Shankar finally found a way to the boundary and hit a four past third man. India needed five to win off the last two balls.
Shankar was then caught at long-on, leaving India needing five runs to win off the last ball. Washington Sundar was the new man in but he was at the non-striker’s end, this was still the time when batters could cross over when a catch was being taken. Sarkar went fullish well outside off stump, the ball with a hint of movement away from Karthik, who proceeded to smash it flat over covers for a stunning six. Karthik faced just eight balls in the match and he stayed unbeaten on a whopping 29 runs.