For a player bought for INR 14.2 crore, life can turn uncomfortable rather quickly. Kartik Sharma felt that squeeze in his first fortnight with Chennai Super Kings, but on Saturday evening at Chepauk he finally exhaled, closing out a chase of 160 against Mumbai Indians with an unbeaten, neatly-paced half-century.
The 20-year-old left-hander, promoted to No.4 and used as CSK’s Impact substitute, finished on 57 not out from 36 balls. A shovel over mid-wicket off the mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar loosened the shoulders; a nerveless reverse-scoop off Trent Boult sealed the eight-wicket win. Cue gentle back-slaps rather than wild celebrations – CSK’s brains trust have been at pains to keep things calm.
“You have the young players, there’s two parts to it,” CSK head coach Stephen Fleming said afterwards. “One is how you introduce them. It is a big stage no matter what they’ve been doing at domestic level. 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, and his [Kartik’s] 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.”
That “tough” start was a three-match stretch in which he managed 18, 6 and 4 on occasionally unpredictable surfaces – Guwahati in particular felt like a Test match morning after heavy rain. Those numbers triggered a brief omission, hardly unusual for a rookie but noisy when the price tag is record-equalling for an uncapped Indian.
McClenaghan, commentating on television, put it crisply: “Kartik’s next step is to have a second gear.” Ambati Rayudu, never shy of an opinion on former team-mates, added: “He’s growing in confidence each time he walks out.”
Fleming spotted signs of that growth last year, when the youngster trained with CSK as an unofficial squad member. “Well, he was pretty good last year,” the coach noted. “Again, it’s just trying to understand at what level the skill keeps lifting up and, when it’s domestic level, you’re trying to quantify the standard. Some of it I can’t see, some of it you see a lot on video.
“But again, it comes back to that temperament. Being able to do it on this stage is very unique and when we watched him in the last trials and then his recent form leading into the auction, we felt that he was pretty close or ready to have a chance. He’s worked very hard. There were some things he had to work on and still needs to work on as he goes forward.”
The franchise have wrapped that process in what Fleming calls a “duty of care”. Nights at the nets often finish with Kartik chatting to MS Dhoni about angles, or sitting with mental-skills consultant David Reid, who has worked with AFL and Big Bash teams, to unpack the psychological clutter that a mega-deal can create.
“The mental aspect is really important,” Fleming stressed. “You’re sending players out into an absolute ca…” He broke off mid-sentence, smiled, and moved on – the point was made. Pressure, he meant, but also opportunity.
Saturday’s innings suggested the messaging is landing. Kartik’s strike-rotation was crisp – 22 singles, five doubles – before he expanded into the trademark flourish against Boult. He targeted spin early, a ploy CSK had asked for, and left the more experienced Ruturaj Gaikwad to anchor at the other end.
Technical tweaks are subtle: a slightly wider stance to help him access the leg side; softer hands when the ball grips. Nothing revolutionary, yet enough to tilt the odds in his favour.
What next? A repeat, says Rayudu. A new tempo, says McClenaghan. CSK, for their part, won’t hurry him. They have long preferred steady returns to instant fireworks, and Saturday’s 57* fits that mould better than any pyrotechnic sixty off 20 might have done.
For now, the young man from Haryana can enjoy the bus ride to the next venue with the knowledge that the dressing-room playlist will no longer pause whenever he walks in. One innings does not settle a career, but it can settle the nerves – and that, as Fleming keeps reminding everyone, is half the job.
