I wanted to just absorb the pressure, help team to win: Karthik

Having played a pivotal role in steering his team to victory after initial jitters in the first of the three Twenty20 Internationals against the West Indies, veteran Dinesh Karthik on Sunday said he wanted to absorb the pressure while keeping his focus on positive cricket.

Karthik remained unbeaten on 31 as India overhauled West Indies' 109/8 at the Eden Gardens here after at one stage being in lot of trouble at 45/4.

"Going down the order, I wanted to just absorb the pressure and try to help the team win, that's my role.

"As a senior player, I keep telling myself, need to absorb pressure, but at the same time play positive cricket, make sure I bat through and take on the bowlers. Didn't need to bat at a 150 strike-rate in this game," he said.

Karthik said the wicket had a lot of both bowlers and batsmen.

"It's a good wicket, there's a lot for the bowlers. This is good to bat on too, but there's always something for the bowlers," he said.

--IANS

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