Chennai, May 6 (IANS) Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey believes that wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson’s calmness and match awareness helped youngster Kartik Sharma settle down during the chase as the duo forged a match-winning 114-run partnership against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Karthik, who came at a crucial phase during the chase as CSK lost back-to-back wickets, played a mature knock and remained unbeaten at 41 off 31 balls as CSK chased down a small target of 156 runs in just 17.3 overs.

Lauding the youngster’s skills and temperament, Hussey also noted the benefit of having an experienced batter like Samson on the other end to help the 20-year-old batter in finishing the chase.

“I think it’s really important for someone like Sanju with all his experience to be out there in the middle with a young player like Kartik, who’s still learning his craft, really, just to keep him calm, talk him through the situation. But I thought Kartik showed a lot of maturity as well. He didn’t panic when he was going at about a run a ball,” Hussey said in a video released by IPL on X.

“It could have been easy to think I need to hit a few sixes here, but that’s one of his real strengths. He’s got good game sense and good batsmanship skills as well as some good power. And I truly believe that there’s still a place in the modern game for guys that have good craft and be able to play the situation well, assess the conditions well, not just have power to be able to blast the ball out of the park,” he added.

Meanwhile, after the win, CSK are currently placed at sixth position with 10 points in five matches. They will next face Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 10.

–IANS

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