'He hadn’t eaten lunch for a year'- Kumar Kartikeya’s coach on MI youngster’s past struggles

Kumar Kartikeya recently made his IPL debut for the Mumbai Indians against the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals. In his first ever IPL game, the tweaker from Uttar Pradesh exhibited excellent discipline with the ball and picked the prized scalp of the Royals’ skipper Sanju Samson, conceding just 19 runs in his four overs. His economic spell gained him enormous fame and proved to be one of the major reasons behind MI’s first ever victory in IPL 2022. 

But there was a time when the 24-year-old spinner used to struggle badly to meet his daily needs due to his extremely poor financial conditions. His coach Sanjay Bharadwaj has shed some light on the troubled past of the promising spinner. Addressing ESPN Cricinfo, Bharadwaj said that Kartikeya’s miseries were so magnified that he couldn’t afford himself lunch for a year, which once made him cry when he was offered the same by the cook of the academy. 

“When the cook gave him lunch, Kartikeya began to cry; he hadn’t eaten lunch for a year,” Bharadwaj said. 

For information, Kartikeya joined Bharadwaj’s academy at the age of just 15 in order to fulfil his desire of becoming a spin maestro. His financial conditions were so abysmal that he started working as a labourer situated 80km away from the academy, to meet his daily needs. 

Talking about Kartikeya’s dedication for cricket, Mr Bharadwaj said that the spinner spends his time in the nets whenever he is free. As per his coach, Kartikeya is so focused to fine-tune his skills that he practises for 2-3 hours in the nets in the night even after coming back from a match. Watching his immense skills and dedication, Bharadwaj sent him to the Shahdol cricket association, which became a turning point in the youngster’s career. 

“Whenever he is free, he starts bowling in the nets. Many a time he comes back from matches in Indore late in the night and gets the lights on and spends the next two-three hours in the nets," Bharadwaj said. 

"Looking at his ability and dedication, I sent him to my friend and secretary of Shahdol Cricket Association Ajay Dwivedi. He played division cricket there and took 50-plus wickets in his first two years,” he further added. 

To note, the left arm chinaman spinner Kumar Kartikeya was bought by the Mumbai Indians as a replacement for Mohammed Arshad Khan last week. In his brief career spanning over four years, Kartikeya has played 9 FC games, 19 List A games and 9 T20s in which he has picked 35, 18 and 9 wickets respectively. Looking at his tremendous bowling skills, it can be said that he is certainly among the spinners to watch out for in the near future.