T20 World Cup: Dinesh Karthik thanks Ravichandran Ashwin for saving his blushes

Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin (Image: @CricCrazyJohns/Twitter)

The Indian men's cricket team landed in Sydney on Tuesday as it prepares to take on the Netherlands on Thursday, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The BCCI's official Twitter account posted a video of the team travelling getting down at the Sydney airport, after its brief flight from Melbourne.

The video captures players in great spirits after the thriller at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with Virat Kohli and the rest obliging fans for selfies.

The cameraperson panned towards Tamil Nadu duo Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin, with the former thanking the latter for his presence of mind.

DK exclaimed: "Thanking you for saving me yesterday....for being cool and calm."

Hello Sydney

We are here for our nd game of the #T20WorldCup! #TeamIndiapic.twitter.com/96toEZzvqe — BCCI (@BCCI) October 25, 2022

Karthik was referring to Ashwin's presence of mind in the last ball of the dramatic final over. Ashwin, who strode to the crease after Karthik's dismissal with two runs needed off the final ball, left the first delivery he faced for a wide. This helped level the scores with spinner Mohammad Nawaz having to re-bowl the final delivery.

Ashwin cooly dispatched the final ball over the mid-off fielder to take India over the line at MCG in what turned out to be an all-time classic between the arch-rivals.

While Kohli rightly gained all the praise for his extraterrestrial innings, social media users were quick to point out Ashwin's contribution to the win.

A game awareness like none other, @ashwinravi99 for you, ladies & gentlemen! Revisit the crucial moment with @imVkohli & watch more insights into his game before Team India face Netherlands!#CricketLIVE: Every matchday | Star Sports & Disney+Hotstar pic.twitter.com/UAhPXlp15H

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 24, 2022

In fact, Kohli also mentioned Ashwin's game awareness during a post-match interview with broadcaster Star Sports. "When you need a run rate of 15 or 16 and you get two runs in two balls, then people might relax a bit, might get over excited as well thinking that the rest is done. Then Dinesh Karthik got out. Then I told Ash to hit the ball over covers. But Ash, usne dimaag ke upar extra dimaag lagaya. That was a brave thing for him to do. Came inside the line, made that into a wide ball. The situation next was if he could get the ball through the gaps, we would definitely win the match."

India takes on the Netherlands on Thursday, at the SCG, at 12:30 pm IST.