Kartik's turn

Robin Singh, India's fielding coach, almost put India's hero in Mumbai out of action on Tuesday. After he had finished bowling in the nets, Murali Kartik wandered across to the far end of the ground for his session with the fielding coach. The first ball Robin hit at Kartik bobbled a bit, and hit Kartik on the tip of his right thumb.

All night Kartik woke up in starts, each time his thumb slid off the improvised perch he had built for it with pillows. Anti-inflammatory pills helped, but there was little that could be done about the throbbing pain. Even three hours before play began on Wednesday, Kartik was not sure if he'd take the field or not, his right hand submerged in a bucket of ice. It didn't help that this was a thumb that had been fractured twice, first by Tanveer Jabbar in a domestic match, and later when he was playing international cricket.

A bit of the nail had chipped off and the swelling was obvious. Before play began John Gloster, the team physio, strapped the thumb up, and though pain and discomfort remained, Kartik was ready for action. After all, this was Australia, in Mumbai, with the series already decided. The deja vu from the 2004 Test was too much to ignore. Inside of three days, on a rank turner, Kartik picked up 7 for 76 to bowl India to a consolatory win in a series they lost 1-2.

But the pitch the seventh ODI was played on was in no way as diabolical as the one India won their Test on. Sure, there was turn, and there was bounce, but it was not the akhada (wrestling pit) the Test was played on. For the first time in the series Kartik got to bowl his ten overs in one spell - always ideal for spinners, and especially so for left-arm orthodox spinners - and he picked up 6 for 27, stopping the Australian batting juggernaut dead in its tracks.

Kartik's success, though, had less to do with the pitch and more to do with what he did through the air. He tossed the ball up, giving it a rip, getting it to dip, and batsmen were beaten by the flight before the turn delivered the fatal blow. And mind, he was not throwing every ball up in the air in hope. In each over, he mixed his pace up, varying the trajectory, just tossing the ball up often enough to remind batsmen that he could do that.

With attacking fields set - initially overly so, with a slip, gully, silly mid-off and no one in the deep straight down the ground on either side of the pitch - he set to work. Brad Hodge, who has struggled all series, was the first victim, lured into playing at one that dipped into his pads and spun across him, edging straight to slip. The next ball - probably the worst Kartik bowled in a spell of great control and rhythm - fetched him the biggest wicket of them all. Andrew Symonds half-swatted and half-drove at a long hop outside the off and found Tendulkar at cover. The way Kartik took off in celebration, it was clear the Indians felt they were in with a chance.

Kartik's first wicket came with the loopy delivery, the second with a long hop, and as if to prove he had the variation, Kartik trapped Brad Haddin in front with an arm ball. For his opposite and unorthodox number, India's tormentor Brad Hogg, Kartik brought Robin Uthappa at short leg into play. Hogg was unhappy with the decision, and stood his ground, but Brett Lee wasted no time standing around. Lee was drawn into a drive, first ball, and edged to gully, leaving Kartik on a hat-trick for the second time in the game, but more importantly with his first five-for in the bag. When he added another, it was clear that his career, stop and start, with more comebacks than he can remember was resuscitated once more.

But this is not merely because of the wickets he took. Kartik is bowling now with freedom and confidence, on the back of an excellent season for Middlesex, in which he picked up more than 50 wickets. He's got confidence, he's got form, and he's always had the ability. Having already signed with Middlesex for the next season, he's also got the security he never enjoyed as an India cricketer in a career of eight Tests and 34 ODIs over seven years.

Just one small thing. The last time Kartik won the Man-of-the-Match award in an international game, was for bowling India to victory against Australia. He was promptly dropped from the team. This time, he'll be hoping fate is kinder.