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HS Sharath: The Karnataka pacer eyes a smoother second spell

HS Sharath once touted as a pace bowler worthy to carry on the standards set by his Karnataka seniors like R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Arvind, is now eyeing a comeback.

Sharath: Karnataka pacer eyes return (Pic: Facebook)

Bengaluru, August 25: It was not too long ago when HS Sharath was touted as a pace bowler worthy to carry on the standards set by his Karnataka seniors like R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Arvind. The beginning was rosy too.

A five-wicket haul (5/67) against Uttar Pradesh in a drawn Ranji Trophy match at Meerut in the 2012-13 season indicated a long road ahead for him as a Karnataka cricketer, if not treading a higher plane. The spell captured all about Sharath as a bowler.

Vinay could swing the ball, Mithun played the hit-the-deck enforcer role and left-armer Arvind worked on the angles. But Sharath offered something different - he used the height to get bounce and bowled at a tidy line to pile pressure on batsmen. It was not the popcorn stuff but as effective as any of his teammates. Karnataka were one of those rare sides who played with four seamers in India domestic circuit then.

Sharath was also part of the Karnataka squad that won back-to-back Ranji Trophy titles. But nearly 9 years later, Sharath's journey has been meandered into cracked roads and the strapping right-arm pacer is waiting for his second chance.

Sharath's last match for Karnataka came in December 2015 against Maharashtra at Pune where he took a match-haul of three wickets in a 53-run defeat. There has been an injury from which he took more than a year to rehabilitate and return, and upon his return the competition too got intensified in the form of Prasidh Krishna and Ronit More, who made debut alongside him at Meerut, too became a far more preferred name.

The 28-year-old Sharath, who has taken 86 wickets from 28 First-Class matches, has not lost his hope, though. "The plan is to take as many wickets as I can and hope to get selected. The selection is not in my hands. There was an injury early in my career but since then has made good progress on the fitness area constantly working with the state and NCA coaches," says Sharath.

It really had not helped his case that the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) domestic season last year (2020) was marred by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It was a hugely frustrating period. I wanted to play cricket, return to the field. But there was no cricket. I had to restrict myself to bowling at nets and I should thank Rahul sir (Dravid) who asked me to bowl at NCA nets regularly, and whenever India players at the premises for a camp or rehabilitation. It was a good experience for me to bowl at top class batsmen," he says.

There was another useful by product of that lockdown for Sharath. "I made a change in the fitness routine. I began to concentrate more on training methods like running than doing only the gym work. As a fast bowler, I needed to make my run-up strong to reap better results and more focussed training has helped me a lot in that direction," Sharath offers.

The targeted training seems to be working in his favour as Sharath took 20 wickets from 10 matches in the Sir Mirza Ismail Shield (KSCA Group 1, Division 1) tournament while playing for Rajajinagar Cricketers, a tied third with Kushal Mahesh of Sir Syed Cricketers.

Shreyas Gopal, the leg-spinning all-rounder, emerged the top wicket-taker with 27 wickets from 10 matches while appearing for Swastic Union Cricket Club (1), while N Nischith Rao, Sharath's teammate at Rajajinagar Cricketers, was at second spot with 21 wickets.

"It was a great feeling to be among wickets and it was a sweeter effort because Rajajinagar Cricketers emerged champions in the tournament. I am also in constant touch with seniors like Vinay and coaches like Mansoor sir (former Karnataka pacer and coach Mansoor Ali Khan). Former Karnataka coach J Arun Kumar too has helped me a lot in coming up the ranks, but nowadays he is in USA as their coach."

But how realistic he is about a comeback to the state side that has a set of new pacers? "I have to keep believe in myself and keep doing the hard work. Prasidh has done really well in the last couple of seasons and hopefully he will get more chances at the higher level. But at the same time, there can be a vacant place in Karnataka side and I am targeting that. I am confident of offering a lot more to Karnataka cricket.

"The domestic season will begin in a couple of months but my real target is the upcoming YSR tournament in Karnataka. We need to qualify for the league stage and if I can do well there then I feel my case will be presented in front of the selectors," he says.

Hopefully, that road gets smoother for Sharath soon!

Story first published: Wednesday, August 25, 2021, 19:59 [IST]
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