Sport - Cricket

A pleasant surprise for Kartik

Chennai May 16. Railways left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, selected in the Indian squad for the ODI series in the Caribbean, is looking forward to the challenge.

Kartik, with the India `A' side in Colombo when he received the news of his selection, said: ``It sounded nice. My confidence level has always been up. Actually, after being picked in the `A' team to Sri Lanka, I did not expect to figure in the ODI squad. This comes as a pleasant surprise. One-day cricket is essentially a `dot-ball' game. But there are situations when you have to take wickets,'' said Kartik to The Hindu.

Kartik, who arrived in Chennai from Colombo on Thursday morning, said he, along with the others, would leave for the Caribbean from New Delhi on May 19.

West Indies should bring back happy memories for Kartik. It was here in '99 that he scalped 23 batsmen during the India `A' tour of the Caribbean, including 15 in the two `Tests' — ``I really enjoyed bowling there. The atmosphere is wonderful.''

Regarding the injury to experienced leg-spinner Anil Kumble, he said, ``It must have been painful. It was extremely courageous of him to come in and still bowl in the Antigua Test.''

Interestingly, Kartik suffered a similar injury during the India `A' tour of Pakistan in '97, and his too was a tale of courage. The left-arm spinner, already struggling with a strained groin, was hit on the jaw by a Jatin Paranjpe shot, while bowling at the nets, on the eve of the fourth `Test' at Karachi.

Not knowing the extent of injury, Kartik played in the last two one-dayers of the series, and then in the Wills Trophy back home. It was only then, when the pain and the swelling refused to subside, did Kartik discover that he had a broken right mandible and `powdered chin.' A surgery had to performed on the cricketer and his jaw had to be wired for 46 days. ``I couldn't open my mouth, could not speak.'' That is well behind him now. Presently he says he is bowling to a nice rhythm and ``looking forward to the challenge.''

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