Watch: Rishabh Pant's words of encouragement for Dinesh Karthik's bowling go viral on the internet

India registered a mammoth win against Afghanistan by 101 runs in their final match of the Asia Cup 2022. The game that will be forever remembered for Virat Kohli’s 71^st international hundred also had one more memorable moment. Seeing India in complete control of the match, captain KL Rahul decided to bring on some part-time bowlers during the ending stages of Afghanistan’s innings.

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One of the bowlers that was brought on was Dinesh Karthik. He had previously bowled 120 deliveries in the domestic circuit and also 12 balls in T20 cricket. However, he was rolling his arm over for the first time in international cricket. Karthik got some words of encouragement during his bowling debut from wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, which has gone viral on the internet.

After his fourth ball in the final over, Pant was heard encouraging Karthik as he said, “DK bhai control toh hai” (DK brother, you got the control). Karthik’s bowling debut turned out to be quite a nightmare for him as Ibrahim Zadran smashed him for 18 runs in the final over of the game. After his forgettable performance with the ball on Thursday, it’s highly unlikely that the fans will get to see Karthik bowling again in his career.

Here's the video of Karthik’s bowling:

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pic.twitter.com/rdJg73zUEL

— Guess Karo (@KuchNahiUkhada) September 9, 2022

The move to bring on the part-time bowlers didn’t go down well with the commentators, who expressed their disappointment during the match. Commentator Aakash Chopra expressed his displeasure as Karthik came on to bowl in the final over and said that Arshdeep Singh or Deepak Hooda should have bowled the final over.

He further said that if he is not in India’s plan, why would he be given the ball? Fans on social media were also of the same opinion and were irked by Rahul’s move to throw the ball to Karthik calling it a ‘waste of time’.

After being knocked out of the Asia Cup in the Super 4s stage, India will next play two three-match T20I series against Australia and South Africa. The two series will be the final preparation for India before the 20-20 World Cup in Australia. Having disappointed the fans in the Asia Cup, team India will be desperate to bring the cup back home in November.