For Kartik, it's country first, cash later

New Delhi: No amount of money beats playing for your country, says Murali Kartik. Coming from someone who has had the taste of playing for India and then been out in the cold, the bowler’s commitment to country over cash is understandable. But being committed, or even being good, is not always enough for a player to make the grade and the left-arm spinner, a now-in-and-now-out member of the Indian cricket team, is left wondering as he survives another ‘out’ stage.

Kartik is playing for Middlesex in the English County championship, and we naturally asked him about the reactions of the English players, who have radically backed playing the Indian Premier League rather than for England.

"About IPL and the English players, that’s what I have heard from lots of players," Kartik says about the uproar among the English players. "I guess it’s each to his own here as probably for a few guys money is everything.

"Personally, I have never played for money," he adds. "Probably, if you ask me again after two or three years, my answer could be different, as you start thinking about life after cricket and the fact that no one is going to take care of you and your family once you have stopped playing.

"Also, I guess every player’s stand depends on how much they get paid in their respective countries.

"For me, however, playing for the country is the biggest deal," he stresses.

Being born on 9/11 can’t be the biggest thing to advertise for Kartik. For him, it could possibly be the story of a career which promised a lot, delivered some, but missed out plenty more, largely through being in and out of the side.

"It’s just become a way of life for me," you can almost see the fatalistic shrug from the bowler. "I really don’t know what went wrong between the time I played Australia and now. I had two very good back-to-back series against Australia and Pakistan."

The amazing thing about Kartik is that he has not really been around long enough to hammer home any advantages. For starters, there was always the situation of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh coming into the squad, and that too only if both players were in the XI. So Kartik was out in the cold frequently, even after decent performances.

When it came to team selection for the Sri Lanka series, it was Pragyan Ojha who took the third spinner’s slot.

Kartik has a fair selection of admirers, and some of the former players are absolutely fascinated by the bowler. The likes of Nasser Hussain, Michael Holding and Michael Atherton rate the bowler as ‘world-class’. But world-class is not always enough when it comes to selection for the Indian team.

He has however found a larger role to play on the English county circuit, emerging as one of the leading bowlers in the pretty frenetic Twenty20 Championship there, as his side, Middlesex, prepare for the final on July 26. Playing Twenty20, where spinners are often asked, whether they fit in.

"I have been playing here the last four years – two years for Lancashire and two Middlesex. The only difference between the 20-20 here and in India is that back home the contest is lopsided in favour of the batsman -- very flat wickets, 65-yard boundaries and no movement for the faster bowlers.

"Over here, you have wickets which are flat but the conditions sort of even it out. Also here, there are decent-sized grounds."

So does it require anything special for a spinner to be successful in Twenty20?

"I think for any bowler to do well in any format you have to be good and know what to bowl at what time. For that, you need skill and the ability to execute it at critical junctures and when you are under the pump from the batsman. Of course, experience always helps so that’s something you develop.

"But spinners play a big role in any form of the game," the bowler is emphatic.

One of the stories making the rounds nowadays is the new Sri Lankan sensation, Ajantha Mendis, and Kartik, having been in the same Kolkata Knight Riders team with the bowler, had his own take on the bowler. "He was part of the Knight Riders for the last couple of games and played the last one. He is a different bowler, but as far as I think, he certainly can be picked."