After wading through lonely moments in life when he was out of the team, left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has now become a matured and tough cricketer who enjoys the game and does not feel the pressure to perform.
Kartik, who recently got his 14th recall to the Indian team after a gap of 20 months and proved his worth in the fourth one-dayer against Australia in Chandigarh, said he is no more a youngster who would buckle under pressure at the big stage.
"I was not under any pressure in the Chandigarh match as I have come to a stage in my life when I am enjoying just playing. Probably the pressure would have been felt had I been 21 or 22 years of age," said the 31-year-old spinner, who made a memorable comeback by choking the Australian run-chase at the death and helping India win their first match of the series.
Admitting that he was bit demoralised when he suffered a shoulder injury after the tour of Pakistan last year, Kartik said, "the period away from the game [after the shoulder injury] was a bit difficult. They were lonely moments. And then when I came back I was not part of the Indian team."
Kartik said captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's confidence on him is as good as the faith shown to any other member of the team.
"Whenever you are picked to play you give 100 per cent and the confidence factor for the captain is there about all eleven in the team, not just me alone," he said.
On the crucial 48th over, which he bowled successfully to push Australia to back foot, Kartik said the previous over by Rudra Pratap Singh, who captured two wickets, made things easier for him.
"The over preceding mine bowled by R P Singh was very important as two wickets fell and there were two new people at the crease. It made things a bit easier," he said.
Kartik said they would aim at keep the winning momentum going as world champions Australians are tough competitors.
"We have the momentum now against Australia after being 0-2 down. It would have been difficult had it become 0-3.
"Now it's important we keep it up because if they got their leg on you keep it on you. We have to get that leg away. We managed to do it.
"Australia is probably the team who play the middle overs the best when the spinners have not only to stem the run flow but also take wickets. We will be persisting with whatever plans we have chalked out. They are good players and we should be persistent enough to do whatever we are planning," he said.
Kartik hoped the pitch at the Reliance Stadium would offer some help to slower bowlers.
"I have played a few matches here for India and Central Zone and they have been high-scoring ones with totals of 320 being scored. I hope there's some purchase in the wicket for the spinners tomorrow."
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