I am what I am because of Bishan Singh Bedi: Kartik Murali

Kartik Murali, a talented left-arm spinner who probably deserved to play more than eight Tests or 37 ODIs he played for India, told Sportstar that he would not have become a left spinner at all if not for Bedi.

FILE PHOTO: Kartik Murali says he is what he is only because of Bishan Singh Bedi | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Kartik Murali remembers the question Bishan Singh Bedi asked him on his first day with the legendary spinner. “Who is a spinner?” Bedi asked. He answered, “A spinner is somebody who spins the ball.”

Kartik, a talented left-arm spinner who probably deserved to play more than eight Tests or 37 ODIs he played for India, told  Sportstar that he would not have become a left spinner at all if not for Bedi.

“I must have done a lot of good deeds to get him as my guru,” said Kartik of Bedi, who passed away on Monday.

“I am what I am because of all that time he spent with me, making a non-left arm spinner into a left-arm spinner. I was a medium-pacer before I met him. Shirdi Sai Baba gave up his life on a  Dashami and my guru gave up his mortal remains on a  Navami and cremated on a  Dashami.”

He said everything he learnt about left-arm spin, he learned from him. “When Wisden asked me to write on the occasion of his induction into the Hall of Fame, I was more than humbled,” he said. “He was straightforward. He called a spade a spade, and that is another thing I have learnt from my guru.”