First team or not, India can’t afford to lose to Bangladesh: Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik, the India wicketkeeper, said India have covered all bases with their batting and bowling ahead of Sunday’s Nidahas Trophy tri-series final against Bangladesh at the R Premadasa stadium.

“Everybody has got a decent hit. Everyone has batted upto six. I think we have done a fair job till now and going into the final with all bases covered,” Karthik said.

In the first game, the top order, barring Shikhar Dhawan failed to contribute and there were not many contributions from the middle order. However, in the next two games against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Karthik and Manish Pandey strung a match-winning partnership while Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina were among the runs.

Chasing depends on conditions

The Nidahas Trophy has seen five out of the six games won by teams chasing. India are the only team to win batting first when they successfully defended 177 against Bangladesh in their last league game. When asked about whether the team would be comfortable chasing in the final, Karthik said it depended on the conditions.

“It’s not easy, but if there’s dew, it is considerably easier to chase. If the dew settles, it’s much easier for the team that bats second. If there’s no dew, then it’s going to be a great game. If the wicket is slow and it’s going to turn, it will be a challenge,” Karthik said.

Tricky for India?

India have won all seven of their Twenty20 encounters against Bangladesh. Heading into the final, Karthik is not taking Bangladesh lightly and added that a loss could sting his team more.

“Let’s be fair to India as a cricketing nation — whether we play the second string side or the first team, that’s always the case. When we play Bangladesh, if we win it’s like “Ok, you’ve won against Bangladesh”, but if we lose it’s like: “Dude, you’ve lost to Bangladesh. What are you doing?” I’m sure that’s going to be there,” Karthik said.