I need to finish games off: Karthik

In-form Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik today said that he would look to finish off matches by staying till the end.

Karthik scored a blitzkrieg of 60 off 37 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore in MI's opening IPL game and followed it with a breezy 37 off 25 balls against Chennai Super Kings.

"I am happy with the way I am batting. But I feel that I need to finish games off. I feel I should have finished the game in Bangalore but Pollard did that wonderfully for us in Chennai. If you are batting well, it is important to finish games off," Karthik said at the pre-game media conference ahead of MI's tie against Delhi Daredevils here tomorrow.

Karthik brought MI to the doorsteps of victory against RCB before he was out in the last over. MI lost the match by two runs. In the second game, Pollard played a blinder to take MI to challenging total of 148 after Karthik had laid the platform.

On playing under new captain Ricky Ponting, Karthik said, "To be honest, he is one of my favourite players. I have always admired his batting and I was looking forward to meeting him and being part of his team. The positive energy and the way he is doing things is wonderful. Really looking forward to a good few more games with him."

Asked if the team thought that Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar were giving slow starts and whether the opening pair could be tinkered with, Karthik said, "Two players of highest quality. Definitely they would be opening, there is no doubt in that.