Confidence and reading my game helped me improve: Karn Sharma

He was recently the leading wicket-taker in the unofficial ODI and Test series against New Zeland A.

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Karn Sharma
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Karn Sharma of India. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

After making a surprise Test debut against Australia in Adelaide playing ahead of lead spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Karn Sharma couldn’t add another International game under his name. In fact, the leg-spinner went missing from the ‘A’ sides as well during 2016 but made a strong return in 2017 with the help of his domestic performances by making it to the India ‘A’ squad to play against New Zealand ‘A’.

The all-rounder made the news again when he emerged as the leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets across two unofficial Test matches and 9 wickets in the four unofficial ODIs against the Kiwis’ A side including a 5-fer. In the Duleep Trophy played before the ‘A’ team series, Karn stood out as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 16 wickets across three innings.

His rise, especially in the longer format can be seen in the numbers as he picked up 129 wickets in 56 FC games at an average of 31.56 while in his last 11 matches, he picked 50 wickets at an astonishing average of 17.72. Speaking about what made the difference, Sharma said that assessing his game and mindset with help of Narendra Hirwani in NCA helped him to make a strong return.

Hirwani made the difference

“It feels good to be performing and contributing to team’s success with both bat and ball. I want to keep the momentum going with me,” says Karn while talking exclusively with CricTracker. “My batting and bowling are still the same. After working with Hirwani, I started to read my game and skills more than before which made the difference.”.

He has the ability to make regular contributions with the bat as well and he had succeeded at that recently. During the 2016/17 Ranji Trophy season, Karn scored 341 runs and picked up 31 wickets standing as one of the five players with 300+ runs and 30+ wickets during the season. The 30-year-old was quite happy to be playing against an International side after quite a while.

“It was a good experience to get a chance to play against an International team after a long time. My success in the series improved my confidence ahead of the Ranji Trophy,” he further added.

Karn Sharma of Mumbai Indians celebrates fall of a wicket
Karn Sharma of Mumbai Indians celebrates fall of a wicket. (Photo: IANS)

Professional MI set-up

Karn had some rich moments earlier this year when he was picked by Mumbai Indians in the auction for a whopping 3.2 crores. He came to the rescue of his franchise in the latter stages of the tournament and played an important role in their 3rd title success.

“It was a totally different experience working with the Mumbai Indians. They have a professional set up and a great coaching staff. All their experts helped when I played the game and even when I wasn’t in the XI,” he said explaining the professionalism in the MI setup.

Wrist spinners

Recently the wrist spinners and yo-yo test have been quite popular in Indian cricket and as a wrist spinner, Karn doesn’t want to think a lot about fitness and International comeback. He wants to keep performing and consider a match at a time.

“I want to take things match by match at a time. Currently, I am looking to perform and contribute as much as possible to my team,” said Karn when asked about his aims for an International return. “Leg-spinners have always been attacking options. They get you wickets and it is seen the same in the last couple of years.” He added.

After playing for the Railways for nearly a decade, Karn Sharma made a switch to Vidarbha for this 2017/18 at cost of his government job. Karn says there is a lot of difference in professionalism in Vidarbha who play as a region.

“There is a lot of difference in approach of playing compared to Railways. Here, (Vidarbha) we play as a state/region and also there are players with great experience.” He concluded.

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