Dinesh Karthik came out in support of Sunil Narine after Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

“There are some key players for every team. Sunil Narine is one for us. The least we can do is back him. Two-three poor games don’t matter. I am really proud of him as a player,” the Knight Riders captain said.

Karthik also stressed that their batting line-up was very fluid, after Rahul Tripathi put in a match-winning 81 off 51 balls. “Our batting is very fluid. I started at No. 3, now I am batting at No. 7. That is the good thing. Over the years fluid line-ups have done better,” he said.

Karthik also made special mention of Andre Russell, who excelled with the ball. “Russ is very versatile. He can bat slightly up, slightly down.

“The way they batted at the start, they did really well, but at the back end I had great faith in Sunil and Varun. That paid off for me.”

Man of the Match Tripathi felt it was a dream come true.

“It was a dream come true for me. I was prepared for both the roles, be it opening the innings or coming down the order. Wherever you get the opportunity, you have to be prepared. I thought the ball was coming nicely, so I thought we should keep the scoreboard moving...”

He added that playing for KKR was special. “I have loved this journey. Coming to KKR is special. Performing in front of Shah Rukh Sir is very special.”

Russell was ecstatic with his bowling performance.

“That’s the beauty of this game... It didn’t go well with the bat and I made up with the ball today. I’m happy," he said.

“Cross-seamers are the danger balls on this surface and once it hits the seam, it kicks. CSK bowlers used that a lot and I made sure I executed it well when I came on to bowl.

“I’m still confident about finding form with the bat. These things happen in cricket and I’m still working to find my way,” the West Indian all-rounder said.

CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the team’s batting for the loss.

“In the middle overs, there was a phase when they bowled two-three good overs. Then we lost wickets. If our batting was different during that period, the result would have been different,” he said.

“Karn Sharma did really well. The bowlers did well to bring them down to 160-odd, but the batsmen let the bowlers down.”