IPL 2022: Dinesh Karthik is ‘that rock’ of the team, says RCB’s Mike Hesson | Cricket News

KOLKATA: Indian Premier League (IPL) side Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have revealed that when South African prop AB de Villiers decided to leave the team and announced his retirement at the end of the 2021 season, the team was surprised. But the way wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik has shaped himself this season, he has become “that rock” of the team.
“DK (Dinesh Karthik) was probably that rock. When a guy like AB (de Villiers) misses you, we talked about how you’re going to replace AB and now we don’t, but he (Karthik) has been outstanding in terms of finishing,” RCB Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson said on RCB Bold diaries ahead of the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens here later on Wednesday.
The last games played by RCB saw their hitters put on a fine show while their much talked about header order came to life again in the latest league game against Gujarat Titans. With the team still holding out hope of making it to the final, Hesson felt a collaborative effort by Virat Kohli, skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell helped the team tame the Titans.

He added that Karthik had been ably supported by Shahbaz Ahmed and Mahipal Lomror, while Rajat Patidar had also been in good touch in the handful of games he played.
“I believe Rajat Patidar is an unsung hero. He came on as a substitute, he played some really important innings for us. He’s a guy we’d like to see how he develops in the next two years.
“Mahipal was also impressive. He came in a bit late. He had an initial injury and then came back. He had to wait. At that point he came back and added a spark,” Hesson told about RCB’s explosive environment. – versatile control.
“Maxi (Maxwell) got better as the tournament went on,” added Hesson.

Overall, he was also supportive of du Plessis’ captaincy, saying the South African has the ‘ability to bring people with him’.
“Faf was great, once we decided who was going to be captain and he was informed, it was definitely not about putting a stamp on him, it was about coming in and contributing to the culture, and the word culture is often overused and often based on performance. So people say, “oh they won, so they must have a great culture”… For me, culture comes first. That’s something from quite hard to define. It’s more about how you react under pressure, how you react to your teammates, and Faf is big on that.

“He (du Plessis) is also keen on creating a legacy in that we actually have to put things in place for the next three years and hopefully beyond. He also has the ability to bring people to shop around, what I think is really important.
“Virat is obviously a key part of that, being our ex-captain and such an influential figure, but he’s also brought in a lot of senior players that he can engage with. All the youngsters love him because he cares , really talks and sits down to have breakfast with them, gets to know them, sits them by the pool, whatever it is to really build this group up and he does it organically, that n It’s not wrong, it’s a pretty natural way to handle people,” Hesson added.