Indian Premier League 2020: Irfan Pathan lauds Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik for excellent captaincy

Pathan appreciated Karthik's move of using seven bowlers to mix things up. Karthik's move had paid dividends as the SunRisers batsmen set-up a paltry 142/4 on the board. KKR romped to a 7-wicket victory and gained their maiden victory in IPL 2020.

Image Credits: Twitter/@ICC

Former Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan has showered praise on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Dinesh Karthik for his captaincy after KKR defeated SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) to gain their first victory of IPL 2020 on Saturday (September 26).

SunRisers’ skipper David Warner in a surprising move had chosen to bat first. Karthik in reply used seven bowlers to mix things up. Karthik’s move paid dividends as the SunRisers batting lineup completely failed to get going with only Manish Pandey scoring a half-century.

Irfan Pathan appreciated the move and took to Twitter, where he wrote:

"Good captainship from @DineshKarthik. Rotated the bowlers nicely, Kept extra overs in the bank for the later part of the game. #IPL below-par score this by #SRH 8 overs from bhuvi and Rashid has to be wicket-taking ones," Irfan tweeted.

Only Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins and Varun Chakravarthy completed their quota of four overs while Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Andre Russell and Kuldeep Yadav – all bowled only two overs each.

Chasing SunRisers’ paltry total of 142, KKR romped to a 7-wicket victory with opener Shubman Gill carrying his bat with a brilliant 70* (off  62 balls; 4x5, 6x2) while Eoin Morgan also looked good in his innings of 42 (off 29 balls; 4x3, 6x2). The duo engaged in a 92-run stand to take their side over the line.

KKR will take on Rajasthan Royals in their next match on September 30.