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Dinesh Karthik starred with the bat as Delhi Daredevils scored an emphatic 67-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match at the Ferozshah Kotla, in Delhi, on Wednesday.
But victory would not have been so convincing had Karthik not waged a solid fightback after Daredevils looked in danger of folding for a meagre total.
The dashing wicketkeeper-batsman stepped in when Delhi were reeling at 70 for four after nine overs. And after a rather hesitant start, he took the fight to the enemy camp.
He hit boundaries in consecutive overs as Delhi moved to 120 for four after 15. He then clipped a full delivery from Siddharth Trivedi over square leg for his first six and followed that up with two more sixes off Sumit Narwal in the next over.
He and skipper Gautam Gambhir (43) had added 79 runs in 50 deliveries for the fifth wicket to turn the match on it's head.
He was out to the final delivery of the innings, caught at long-on, after a wonderful innings of 69 that took Delhi to a huge 188 for six in their 20 overs.
His 38-ball knock was studded with six boundaries and four sixes, as the hosts hit 109 runs from the last ten overs.
In the end, the total proved to be a match winning one and Rajasthan didn't even come close before being bowled out for 121 in 17.4 overs.
Photographs: IPL/Getty Images