MS Dhoni has a calf injury. He has not rushed back. Partly because Chennai Super Kings are managing him carefully at 44. But partly, those inside the dressing room say, because Kartik Sharma has made it complicated.
It was not long ago that Stephen Fleming was sceptical about young blood. As CSK fell behind other teams in batting approach last season, Fleming held his ground — sample size too small, he said. Weeks later he had changed his mind. Beyond Abhishek Sharma, Priyansh Arya and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, there were more. Kartik was among them — spotted mid-season by CSK’s scouting team, added to their pool as a development player, ineligible for the auction but too good to ignore.
A year on, he is making that scouting look shrewd.
Kartik is 19, from Bharatpur, and not the biggest or burliest of batters. What he has is one specific thing, and he has built his life around it. At the Aravali Cricket Academy in Hathod on the outskirts of Jaipur — where he trained under the late Vivek Yadav, a former Ranji Trophy winner who died of COVID-related complications in 2021 — coaches spotted early that he could connect with the ball and hit it long.
Range hitting became the immediate priority. On some days, 500 to 700 balls against the machine, pace and spin, the objective each time the same: hit as many out of the park as possible. His father, back in Bharatpur, installed a ball machine at home so he could keep practising between academy stints. “There is a clarity in his head about what he is working on: hitting sixes,” says Jagsimran Singh, head coach at Aravali.
CSK have punted Rs 14.2 crore on exactly that. They knew the price tag alone would create pressure. So they built around him carefully. David Reid, a mental-skills coach from Australia with experience in the AFL and Big Bash League, oversaw the sessions off the field — breathing, nerves, understanding what the mind does when 50,000 people are watching.
“The mental aspect is really important,” Fleming said. “You’re sending players out into an absolute cauldron like 35,000 to 50,000 to 100,000 people. The mental aspect of staying calm and understanding what the mind and body are doing is reasonably untapped in this competition. We introduce them to certain mental skills and breathing aspects that might help them to perform. Because they’re very good at hitting balls in the nets, but understanding nerves and anxiety and fear of failure is also equally important, especially if you have a price tag on your head.”
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Beyond Reid, there was Dhoni. Like how he had moulded Shivam Dube into a six-hitting finisher, a pattern was drawn in CSK’s net sessions. Kartik was put in the same batch as the 44-year-old. Simulated match situations, specific tasks listed out — which balls to pick, which bowlers to target, which pockets to exploit. Dhoni by the side, watching, guiding. The initial plan was to use Kartik as a finisher; after the early struggles, CSK moved him to No 4, his position for Rajasthan, his comfort zone.
His IPL debut — No 6 on a seaming Guwahati pitch — brought 18 off 15. Unconvincing shows against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru followed, and he was dropped. In domestic cricket last season, batting at No 4 for Rajasthan, his six-hitting had made Kevin Pietersen stop and ask on X: “Who is this?” CSK had been watching since before the auction. They knew what he could do. They also knew he needed time.
When he came back in the last week of April, CSK moved him to No 4. Against Mumbai, with Ruturaj Gaikwad at the other end. Against Delhi, with Sanju Samson settled. In both games he walked in under pressure, soaked it, found his area of strength, and grew — not slogging, but pacing, picking his moments. An unbeaten 54. An unbeaten 41. Two chases completed.
Batting coach Mike Hussey sees a player who can represent the CSK shirt for years. “Hope we can see him here at CSK for the next five-ten years,” Hussey said. “He’s shown signs in the last couple of matches that he’s starting to believe in himself that he can perform well at this level, and then hopefully there’ll be a little breakout game in the next few that’ll really give him that self-belief moving forward.”
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With Shivam Dube and Dewald Brevis both searching for form, and crunch fixtures ahead, CSK need Kartik finding his feet. Dhoni’s return can wait.
