Kartik Sharma: CSK's costly bet shows signs of life

A day before the Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians clash in Chennai, CSK's batting coach Michael Hussey spoke glowingly about Kartik Sharma. This was a player who had made only 58 runs from five innings in his maiden IPL season up until that point. This was also a player who cost CSK a record 14.2 Cr INR. Uncapped players bought for significantly lower prices have made a big impact for other teams in the IPL. But the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history was struggling to set the tournament alight. Despite all that, Hussey was hopeful of Kartik thriving at CSK over the next decade.

More than 24 hours later, head coach Stephen Fleming also praised the youngster who had just turned 20. Kartik had finally repaid the faith shown in him by stroking a crucial unbeaten half-century on Saturday (May 2). It wasn't the most audacious or fluent innings but it gave a glimpse into his talent, which was never in question given five teams were after him in the auction.

"It is a big stage, no matter what they've been doing at a domestic level," Fleming said after CSK's resounding 8-wicket win. "So understanding their mentality is really important, and it is a big step up. They can have all the talent in the world, but the temperament is what we're looking for. His introduction was tough at the start, and then he had a little bit of time out. He worked hard, and today was a good reward for that. He's a fine player, and he was expensive in the auction, because others see that as well. Tonight it was good to see the temperament, as well as the skill, on show, and he will just get better and better."

Despite the modest start to his IPL career, Kartik has already cleared the ropes seven times, including a couple against Mitchell Santner. Rajasthan's batting coach, Nikhil Doru, revealed that Kartik's father ingrained the habit of hitting sixes in him from an early age. "His father used to make him practice six-hitting at home," Doru recalled. "He would ask him how many sixes he hit in the match. That's the habit ingrained in him by his father since childhood. The father's idea was: if he has to play the IPL, he needs to hit sixes. Even recently, during Ranji, he told me he practices hitting 500 sixes a day. He wakes up in the morning, hits 200, and then does the same in the afternoon and evening. He practices at Deepak Chahar's academy in Agra. He only practices hitting sixes. Even in Ranji, he hits sixes, his strike-rate stays around 100."

Doru, who believes self-belief is Kartik's biggest strength, first saw the talented young player during his under-14 days. "When I saw him the first time in U14, I knew he would play at a big level," Doru recalls. "I told him then he's a different talent. In our RPL (Rajasthan Premier League), he was an uncapped player. I really wanted to get him at the auction for our team (Kota), but our budget got over. At that point, no one knew him, even then I told everyone he would do something. Even this time, when we had our RCA meeting, they asked me who I think is the future star of Rajasthan. I told them Kartik Sharma is definitely the future of Rajasthan."

The youngster's rough start is well-documented. He has been asked to bat predominantly at No. 6, a spot where he visibly struggled. The low returns even saw him get left out of the side on a couple of occasions. Against MI on Saturday however, he was given a clear role at No.4 for the first time this season. With a modest target in front of him and plenty of balls to play with, Kartik was under no pressure to accelerate from ball one. That helped him find his feet and eventually go past fifty for the first time in his IPL career. Kartik remained unbeaten, batting alongside his skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. Sending him up the order is something Doru had repeatedly suggested given Kartik bats regularly at No.4 for the state side as well.

"He has self-belief, he will do it but I feel he should bat higher," Doru had said. "When you play up (the order), you get more time. When you're playing down the order, you don't have enough balls or time. Up the order, you have time, even the bowler thinks the batter will take singles and won't hit. At that time, he can bowl six-hitting balls. Later on, even the bowler knows he has come to hit, so they bowl variations to prevent getting hit. When he bats up the order, he might not get that many variations, maybe he can use the six-hitting ability he has better."

Labelling the 20-year-old as a 'quiet, down to earth boy', Doru believes he should have been picked earlier for the Under-19 World Cup as well. "I also felt he should have been picked for the U19 World Cup," he pointed out. "They should have played him. I even told the selectors. Once Ajay Ratra came to watch one of the games, and I told him. Unfortunately, he didn't play the U19 WC. I was surprised but that's fine, maybe Rajasthan did not qualify for the U19 knockouts. But it's going well for him. Everyone knew he would be picked for this IPL. Everyone knew he would go above INR 5 Cr, but no one expected him to go for INR 14 Cr. But we knew he would go big, everyone was watching him."

It's that price tag that Kartik has to watch out for, according to Doru given it is life-changing money. "I have seen many IPL players," Doru observed. "The main challenge is when you get the name and fame, how do you handle it? We had Nathu Singh emerging from here as well. But after getting picked, his graph went down. Many people can't handle the name and fame. If you can handle it, you can go ahead. For Kartik, that is going to be challenging. When money comes, I feel the focus goes. If he can maintain the focus, he can go ahead. There's the pressure of going for INR 14 Cr too. When he got out the first two times, I could see that pressure on him. When you go for 14 Cr, the expectation is high. And he's young too. So I could see that pressure for 3-4 matches, but the last 2-3 matches he has played well. It is just about that one innings, when he does well the pressure will go."

That one innings certainly has arrived for Kartik, ironically against the team that opened the bidding for him in the auction. He is still far from being a finished product. There are things he certainly needs to work on as even Fleming pointed out. As good as he has been against spin, Kartik still appears to be a work in progress against genuine pace but a consistent run at No.4 might just give him the right amount of time to work his way around. Will Hussey's prophecy come true? We will have to wait and watch. But for now, this is a step in the right direction for the youngster.