'I am prepared' - Karn Sharma

On November 3, the day before the Indian selectors were originally scheduled to pick the Indian squad for Test series in Australia, former India captain Rahul Dravid picked his own 16 while speaking to ESPNcricinfo. Saying it was time for selectors to be brave, Dravid raised a few eyebrows by favouring Railways legspinner Karn Sharma over Ravindra Jadeja, the left-arm spinner.

Later that evening, when told Dravid preferred him as a spin partner to R Ashwin, Karn was a little tongue-tied. At the time Karn was training with the Railways squad, which was preparing for the central zone leg of the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic one-day tournament. "I am a little bit nervous," he confessed. With the selection meeting scheduled for the following day, Karn admitted he might find it hard to sleep.

That selection meeting was postponed by the BCCI. A week later, though, the selectors backed Dravid's decision by picking Karn for the four-Test series starting from December 4. Now, Karn was relaxed. Lounging in the spacious dressing room at Jamtha in Nagpur after his 3 for 47 against Madhya Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare tournament, he read of his selection while browsing the internet. "I am very happy that I have got an opportunity to play in Tests for India," Karn told ESPNcricinfo. "Let us see if I get a chance or not, but I am prepared. I will try my level best to prove myself."

Dravid had said earlier that he preferred that the selectors to go with Karn since wrist spinners "had a greater chance" to succeed in Australia if they bowled straight, had a good googly and were able to extract bounce. He cited the examples of Anil Kumble, Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill as past match-winners. "I just [want] someone who is little bit quicker through the air, who has a good googly and could be someone who could surprise the Australians," Dravid said.

And Warne it was, whom Karn wanted to imitate when he started to bowl legbreaks. "I tried to develop my action based on Warne but that did not happen. Something else came out - Karn Sharma's own action," Karns says with a laugh.

Ask Karn about his strengths and he tells you: bowl straight, mix in a few variations, back your basics. It is a remarkable progression for Karn who hit headlines at the IPL auction this February when Sunrisers Hyderabad paid $625,000 (Rs 3.5 crore) for him, making him the richest uncapped Indian domestic player.

Karn received his maiden international call-up when he was picked for the limited-overs segment of the England tour earlier this year, where he made his debut in the one-off Twenty20 in Birmingham. So far this year Karn's name has featured consistently in all selection meetings, including for the last two ODI series India have played against West Indies and Sri Lanka. It is understood that selectors have put faith in Karn only because they lost faith in fellow legspinners Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla, who failed to cement a spot in the team after Kumble's retirement.

Still, Karn is not widely known. Having made his debut for Railways in 2007, Karn failed to find a regular spot in the team with the senior pair of Murali Kartik and Kulamani Parida being the frontline spinners. But, in the last two years, Karn has started to settle in as Railways' main spinner. "For the last few years I have started bowling longer spells and that has helped me get into the wickets," he says.

Indeed, he has bowled a total of 289 overs in 11 first-class matches over the last two domestic seasons while picking up more than half of his 66 wickets in that period, including the two five-fors he has till date.

Kartik, who lead Railways in his farewell season last year, describes how Karn stands out from the rest. "He is very different. He is not the conventional legspinner who tosses the ball up. He is quick through the air and gives the ball a rip," Kartik says, adding that he was not surprised that Karn was on the selectors' radar. "The coming together of Karn Sharma has been in the last two years. He is an allrounder. He can really bat well and tonk the ball. He fields well despite looking chubby. He is a good bowler and he is a team player. He is a bankable option. He has been a work in progress and he still is a work in progress."

According to Kartik, the speed at which Karn delivers the ball makes it harder for the batsmen. "He gets the ball to spin at high speeds which is really good. And because of his quicker arms speed and quick action, it is not easy for batsmen to pick him." Karn's googly is not sharp, but Kartik reckons it is "deceptive", making it a wicket-taking ball.

Karn, Kartik says, was his go-to bowler. "He got eight in an innings against Rajasthan on a wicket where nothing was happening for anyone else. Then in a must-win game against Services, in fading light, on a green pitch, he got five."

The "turning point", Karn says, came two years ago in that match-winning performance against Rajasthan. The Karnail Singh Stadium, Railways home ground, was disqualified due to the poor pitch offered the previous season, and Railways were forced to play Rajasthan in Bhubaneswar. Anureet Singh took advantage of a green pitch by grabbing a five-for forcing Rajasthan to follow-on. Karn finished the job by grabbing a career-best 8 for 97 in the second innings.

"We were going for an outright victory in order to increase our chances to make the knockouts," he says. "It was the turning point of my career. From that I got a lot of confidence. It also helped me start bowling more and more."

Karn is not capable with just the ball. He can stand his ground with the bat, too. During the second innings of the Duleep Trophy semi-final last month, Central Zone, despite taking a sizeable first-innings lead, were struggling at 95 for 6 against North Zone on the penultimate day. Karn struck a rapid 69 to take the game away from a star-studded North and ensure his team progressed, and they eventually won the tournament.

Kartik believes despite such performances, though, Karn's sudden elevation is only because of his consistent performance for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL over the last two years. "It is because in the IPL and Champions League T20, in the company of Amit Mishra, he has done well," Kartik says.

Karn does acknowledge the IPL is behind his growth. In his maiden IPL season in 2013, Karn bowled a maiden over to Dwayne Bravo against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. "That was the 16th over of the Chennai innings. That is when I realised I was growing into one of the main bowlers for Sunrisers," he says.

In IPL 2014, he was thrown the ball frequently during the Powerplay by the Sunrisers captains. He accounted for Chris Gayle in both matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the tournament, which he says is another high point of his career. "In the first years I was bowling well but I would not bowl in the Powerplay. But this IPL, Sunrisers showed confidence in me. That is a big thing to me because along with Amit bhai I was getting a chance to bowl in Powerplay."

Karn says the money isn't a big draw for him; he says he has handed over his IPL money to his parents, and his only indulgence so far has been to buy a house in his hometown, Meerut. "My main motivation is to perform. If I perform money will come automatically. So my aim is to play and make my team win. It is a big thing for legends like Rahul bhai to have [put forward] my name. My only aim is to prove myself if I get a chance."

Karn made his debut under Sanjay Bangar, former Railways captain and India opener. Bangar is currently India's assistant coach and has been a big supporter of Karn. Karn cannot forget one thing in particular Bangar that always reminded him about, something he will keep in mind if he takes the ball for India in Australia. "He always said do not think too much. Think only when you enter the ground. Once you enter the ground, you never know what you will achieve."