Murali Kartik (, born 11 September 1976) is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who sporadically represented the national team from 2000 to 2007. He was a specialist slow left arm orthodox bowler known for his loopy trajectory and ability to spin and bounce, but was not selected for international matches during his prime years due to the presence of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. He was also a left-handed batsman, and although he has had some success with the bat at first-class level with 21 half-centuries, he was not able to repeat this at international level.
After starting out in the Delhi junior system, Murali moved through the age group ranks at Railways, and was selected for the Indian Under-19 team. He made his first-class debut in 1996–97 and after a few productive seasons at the domestic level, made his Test debut in early-2000 as Kumble's bowling partner. However, he ran into disciplinary problems and was expelled from the National Cricket Academy in the same year, while new national captain Sourav Ganguly was reluctant to entrust him with responsibility. Ganguly called for off spinner Harbhajan Singh to be recalled in 2001, and was rewarded with a series-winning performance against Australia. This entrenched the off spinner in the team and left Kartik on the outer.
For the next four years, Kartik was on the fringes of selection. He made his ODI debut in 2002, however a series of disappointing performances lead to him missing the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He was recalled in late-2003 for limited overs matches and played in approximately half of India's matches over a six-month period, as well as one Test after Harbhajan suffered a serious injury. In late-2004 Kartik played in three Tests as India fielded three spinners, and claimed his only man-of-the-match award in Tests against Australia in Mumbai, but was again dropped two matches later. In late 2005, Murali became a regular member of the ODI team for a few months when the International Cricket Council introduced an experimental rule that allowed one substitute to be used, opening an extra vacancy in the national team. However, Kartik was unable to secure his position in the team and the rule was later revoked. In late 2007, Kartik broke back into the ODI team and took 6/27 in one victory over Australia, but lost form soon after and was again dropped. He has not represented India since then.
Aside from domestic cricket, Kartik played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and has been in demand in English county cricket as an overseas player, representing Lancashire, Middlesex, Somerset and Surrey.
Kartik has been part of the IPL commentary team since 2015 and regularly commentates on the Indian national team's home games.
Early life
Born on 11 September 1976 in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, Murali Kartik wanted to be a genetic engineer. He was a medium pacer in his early years, before switching to a left arm finger spinner in the classical mould. Kartik grew up trying to emulate past Indian orthodox spinners Bishen Singh Bedi, Maninder Singh and Venkatapathy Raju. He also garnered attention for what was perceived to be a fiery attitude, but took pride in coach Kapil Dev saying of him, "I have never seen a player with such an attitude towards the game in my 20 years of international cricket".
Kartik started out in the junior system at Delhi. He broke into their Under-16 team in December 1992, and took a match total of 10/74 on debut against Himachal Pradesh, and scored 52 not out in an innings victory. He took 2/91 in the next match against Haryana, but could no longer play in the Under-16s because of his advancing age. He could not break into the Under-19s at Delhi, and played no further youth domestic matches for two years, before transferring to Railways and breaking into their Under-19 team.
In five matches for his new team during 1994–95, he took 24 wickets at 14.58 including a haul of 5/28 against Vidarbha. He was rewarded for his performance with a selection into the Under-19 Central Zone team for the zonal one-day tournament, taking five wickets at 25.00 in four matches. He had little success with the bat, scoring 47 on one occasion during the season, but otherwise only aggregating nine runs in six innings.