Coach Sharma backs Karn to come up trumps

Sport360 staff 05:55 07/08/2014
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  • Ready to fire: Karn Sharma.

    India A fielding and wicketkeep­ing coach Abhay Sharma had words of encouragement for legspinner Karn Sharma, who made it to the India squad for the limited-overs leg of the current England tour.

    Karn, along with Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa and Manoj Tiwary, was part of the India A side that re­cently won a quadrangular 50-over series in Australia. For Abhay, it was a proud moment as he is Karn’s long-time coach.

    “He always had the talent, the way he has worked I knew he will make it big one day and now he has done it. It is very satisfying,” Abhay told gocricket.com.

    Karn shot into the limelight after being signed by Sunrisers Hydera­bad during the 2014 Indian Pre­mier League auctions. He justified his selection by scalping 15 wickets from 14 IPL games and even out­performed senior leg-spinner Amit Mishra. And when he got a chance in Australia with the India A team, he came up with the goods once again.

    “He is a very focused player and is a very quick learner. He has been doing well for Railways and when he got a chance he did it in Australia as well,” said Abhay, who had given Karn his first break in the domes­tic Ranji Trophy with the Railways team.

    “He is a very good all-rounder and I have been working with him for over nine years and to see him achieve what he has now is great.

     He surely will flourish in England and definitely will perform well.”

    The 45-year-old coach added: “Karn was a batsman who could bowl a bit when I first saw him even before his Under-19 days.

    “I saw he had talent with the ball, but he was a batsman. He was a raw talent when he came to us. I noticed his bowling and when he became a part of the senior team we took a chance with him.

    "I gave him a chance in 2007-08, against the odds, a decision which was not easily ac­cepted. He came to bat at No7 and to our surprise he scored a century on debut.”

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