Indian Cricket Calling Kartik

There have always been good players who haven’t got the chance to play at the highest level. The coveted test cap has always evaded them due to many reasons. In one of my earlier posts I had written about the likes of Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar, who never got a chance to play Test cricket because of the presence of the famous spin quartet. But, today’s post is about a man who in his limited chances at the highest level has performed well but still doesn’t find a place in Team India. The man I am talking about is Murali Kartik. I first saw him play (live) against Australia at Mumbai in 2004. This test match is infamous for its square turner. What struck you most about him was his high arm action and classical loop. I later saw him bowl a very economical spell against the same opposition in a T20 international at Brabourne. This always made me wonder as to why he didn’t have a regular place in the team.
Murali Kartik made his Test Debut for India in the year 2000 against the touring South Africans. He was left in wilderness for quite sometime due to the emergence of Harbhajan Singh, who for a brief moment even kept Anil Kumble on the sidelines. Kartik played his first full series against the West Indians in 2002. He has always been in and out of the side since then. He toured Australia and Pakistan in 2003-04 mainly a replacement for the injured Harbhajan Singh. The same year came one of his finest moments when he helped India to a dramatic victory at Mumbai against Australia on a square turner. He has just played 1 test match since. He continued to play ODI’s scattered over period of three years in which he again demolished the Australians at Mumbai in an ODI with a six for. He played just one more series against the touring Pakistanis. What strikes me the most is that he has found himself dropped from the side at the wrong time. He played just one test after his man of the match performance at Mumbai in 2004. That test match was anyways a “Five-day Bat-athon” as described by Wisden Asia that year. No bowler got any returns from that track at Kanpur. The next match India went in with two spinners so that meant he would make way for Kumble and Harbhajan. This is where the Indian selectors failed. He should have been in the squad in the long run but was instead dropped. If he had been kept in the squad, he could have been groomed to be a successor to Anil Kumble. Indian selectors were chopping and changing got in the likes of Piyush Chawla etc. In trying to keep the youngsters they have failed to keep a world class bowler in the squad. It was heartening to see him back in India colours in October 2007 but he was again left out for younger choices for the tour of Australia. It has to be seen that he had performed well on his recall in 2007 but he again found himself dropped. What more can a player do but perform to keep his place in the squad.
Currently he is playing county cricket for Somerset and has performed admirably. As I write he is playing his sixth match of the season and has already taken 34 wickets. He has taken 5 wickets five times already and has taken ten in a match twice. The fact that these have been taken on tracks that support seamers just speaks of his class. The Indian spinners are currently struggling to get wickets in Sri Lanka. Harbhajan, Ojha and Mishra haven’t had much success on this tour. The form that Kartik is showing should automatically make him a candidate for a spot in the Indian team. Somerset have already realised his worth and have extended his contract by a year. My point is that he should be given another run in international cricket. He is in form and might just be the answer to India’s bowling woes. He was once quoted “The Holdings and the Athertons say I am one of the top three left-arm spinners in the world... People say I am the best left-arm spinner in India, but I am not playing for India.” He has a point. In the process of trying youngsters India is probably missing a very good match winner and a consistent performer. It is time to get him back. If he performs, who knows, he may be a good option for the World Cup next year as well.

Sach is the Man

(I took this picture during the 3rd test between India and Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium Mumbai, December 4th 2009. Sachin is walking out to bat in this picture)
I may have been about 2 years old when my dad gave me my first cricket bat. It was a small plastic bat with the word “Thunder” written on it, but before I could say the word bat, I learnt to say “Sachin Tendulkar”. As a toddler, one of the first things I learnt about cricket was Sachin Tendulkar. Still in his teens then, he had taken the cricket world by storm. All the other kids in my locality would get their bats and we used to make our nannies bowl to us. Almost every kid in the colony wanted to be like Sachin. The image of him striking the ball came to our minds the moment we picked up out little bats. Sachin had mesmerized the entire nation, young and old alike.
I write today, a day before he would become the highest capped test cricketer in the history of the game. This is another record that is going to be added to his already huge kit of milestones. Over 600 international matches and number of milestones, but his hunger and enthusiasm for the game is the same since the day he first walked out to play for India. There are no more words to describe the man, no more words to appreciate his achievements. All we can do is to sit back and take pride in the fact that we have been witnesses to a great career. We have shared his good times and bad. We have always wanted him to perform as he symbolised the hope of Team India.
There are many moments in his career that symbolise the great man. As 16 year old, playing his fourth test against Pakistan, he got hit on his nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer. He told his partner Navjot Singh Siddhu “Main Khelega” when asked if he wanted to go back to the dressing room. The net ball he faced was carted to the boundary. On the same tour he took on Abdul Qadir’s challenge and hit him for four sixes in an over. I wasn’t born that time, but from what I have heard and read, people were saying “This kid can not only bat, but can dominate bowlers.” At 16 he had shoed the maturity and determination we have seen for the past 20 years. In these 20 years there have been many successes, and along with them come heartbreaks. Heartbreaks at Chennai in 1999 and Hyderabad in 2009 got tears to our eyes and made us feel that we should have won those matches atleast for him. I was too young when the Chennai incident took place, but I remember the Hyderabad match distinctly. The last ball of the Ausralian innings, Sachin had taken a great catch in the outfield to dismiss Cameron White. He threw the ball back in anger, which is uncharacteristic of him. This just gave me the feeling that we were in for a special. When he got out on 175 there was still hope of a win but the Indian tail fell short by 3 runs. This was a huge heartbreak and I remember it took me three days to get over it. What I am trying to say is that we have always shared his feelings. His father passed away during the middle of the 1999 World Cup. He rushed back to be with his family and returned to play for India immediately. The entire nation felt his pain when he walked out to bat against Kenya. The hundred he got that day won’t be forgotten by anybody considering the loss he has suffered. When there were protests against the team during the 2003 World Cup, it was Sachin who delivered a message to the nation promising better performance. This instantly calmed people down and the next day people were on the streets with his posters shouting “Sachin, hum tumhare saath hai”(Sachin, we are with you). Whenever he got injured, almost the entire nation would get worried and pray for his quick recovery. John Wright wrote in his book that whenever Sachin gets injured, the whole of India gets an anatomy lesson. He has always spoken of his pride of being an Indian and this has appealed to everyone in the country. He is one man who can unite the nation. His aura transcends the boundaries of the cricket field and enters into the hearts of every cricket fan, not just Indian cricket fans. Whenever he walked out to bat in Australia, the crowds would give him a standing ovation. His hundred were cheered with similar enthusiasm. Last week, when he scored his 48th test hundred, I distinctly remember the Sri Lankan supporters chanting his name when he was on 98. Such or should I say Sach is the man.
There are many great moments in his career but if I have to pick one that would sum him up, it would be the moment he got his one day double hundred earlier this year. He just took his helmet off, waved his bat to the heavens and the crowd. There was no fist pumping, no aggressive celebration, but a humble acknowledgment. This just shows the man’s humility. In spite of achieving almost everything there is, he is as humble as ever. This is what I learn from him. No matter what you do, where you reach, always be humble. No matter the time is good or bad, always do your best, the bad times will go away and the good times will become better. Sachin, you just taught us how to live.