Dinesh Karthik smashed the longest six of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season so far, a 108-meter blast off T Natarajan in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday.
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The wicketkeeper-batsman's towering shot in the 16th over surpassed Heinrich Klaasen's 106-meter six earlier in the game. Karthik's knock of 83 runs from 35 balls (7 sixes, 5 fours) at a strike rate of 237.14 couldn't prevent RCB from falling short by 25 runs.
Karthik has been in excellent form this IPL season. He scored an unbeaten 53 off 23 balls against Mumbai Indians in RCB's previous match and has also contributed scores of 38 (26), 28* (10) and 20 (8) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), respectively.
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His fighting knock aimed to keep him in contention for a spot in India's T20 World Cup squad scheduled for June in the United States and the West Indies.
Chasing 288 for victory, RCB could only manage 262/7. Skipper Faf du Plessis (62 off 28), Virat Kohli (42 off 20) and Anuj Rawat (25* off 14) offered support, but RCB's bowling attack struggled. Pat Cummins led the way for SRH with 3-43, while Mayank Markande took two wickets.
Earlier, SRH set a new IPL record for the highest total, posting a massive 287/3 in their 20 overs. Travis Head top-scored with a blistering 102 off 41 balls (8 sixes, 9 fours). Heinrich Klaasen also contributed a rapid 67 off 31 (7 sixes, 2 fours). Abdul Samad (37* off 10), Abhishek Sharma (34 off 22) and Aiden Markram (32* off 17) chipped in with valuable cameos. Lockie Ferguson claimed two wickets for RCB, while Reece Topley took one.
The win solidified SRH's fourth position in the IPL 2024 points table with four wins from their first six matches. They face Delhi Capitals next on April 20. Meanwhile, RCB remains at the bottom of the table with just one win in seven games. Faf du Plessis' team will look to turn things around when they meet KKR at Eden Gardens on April 21.
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