‘I’m no Russell or Pollard’

Karthik further emphasised the importance of understanding his strengths as a player, focusing on precision rather than power-hitting like an Andre Russell or Kieron Pollard.

He said he analyses bowlers’ patterns to strategise his shots, visualising scenarios during practice to enhance his batting repertoire.

“These days as a player, you need to understand your strengths. I’m not a Russell or a Pollard who can just mishit a ball and get a six for it, rather,” said Karthik.

The other day Karthik smashed seven sixes and five fours in his 35-ball 83 in pursuit of a record 288 but eventually RCB fell short by just 25 runs.

“So, I need to understand how I can beat gaps, what sort of balls I can hit for boundaries. And I realised there was a certain pattern in which bowlers were bowling to me, so I needed to try and work out a solution for that. Hence, when I practice, I try and understand, okay, if this is what they’re going to bowl at me, how am I going to get a boundary, visualising a field that is going to be in place for me. So, I worked like that, and I worked backwards, and that helped me, you know, really learn a couple of shots more, at the back end. It’s been great to go out there and express myself, and it’s been thoroughly enjoyable to do what I’m doing for RCB as a finisher,” he added.