We’ve just not turned up to the party, says Dinesh Karthik post the loss at Kotla

Dinesh Karthik’s valiant innings of 65 went in vain as the Delhi Daredevils achieved their highest chase in the ten seasons of the Indian Premier League. The knock was not good enough to keep the Lions in contention for the playoff as Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson made sure that they took the Daredevils over the line with seven wickets to spare.

The duo set a new record for the second highest partnership in the history of IPL sharing 143 runs for the third wicket between them while the target seemed gigantic before the start of the chase. Earlier batting first Karthik and skipper Suresh Raina had put up a 133-run partnership for the third wicket to take the team over the 200-run mark.

Karthik gave all the due credit to the Daredevils duo saying, “Ya I think the first half belonged to us but the second half was totally to Delhi. Credit to them, I think they played really well in the second half, there is no doubt about it.”

“I don’t think there is much due. I think it was good skill levels shown by their batsmen, I think they were hitting boundaries at will, making the ground look much smaller than what it is and that’s what has been the story of our season so far,” he further added.

The young Daredevils Pant and Samson seemed to be knocking the ball way better than the veterans in the Lions team did in the first innings, striking it with sheer brute force and exquisite timing. It was a conscious decision from the management to send the West Indian Dwayne Smith at the top of the order with the massive arsenal that the Lions possessed.

The 31-year-old keeper from Chennai said that Gujarat was just not good enough on the day to qualify for the playoffs. “It has been an absolutely disappointing season to say the least. We’ve just not turned up to the party and we are just not good enough to qualify for the playoffs, as simple as that,” he said with a tinge of disappointment.

“There are games where we lacked in batting and a lot of games in bowling but overall it has been a disappointing season. I think we’ll all come off as better players next year,” he hoped as both the make-shift teams Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant would not part of the IPL next season.

The Lions had managed to make it to the playoffs in their very first season with an impressive display while the other debutant team Rising Pune Supergiants struggled. However, they have failed to back up their impressive run in the first season during their last outing in the league.