rkt.india Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Few cricketers would find themselves being criticised after not letting a game slip away from their team. Dhawal Kulkarni belongs to this minority. Against Kings XI Punjab on Monday, the Mumbai Indians bowler conceded 12 runs in the final over to help his team cling to a four-run win. Two nights ago, Kulkarni had bowled a match-winning, three-wicket spell at the same venue, but the manner in which he bowled the final over against Kings XI took him from a hero to its antithesis. Six deliveries of what turned out to be an eight-ball over - and what should have been a nine-ball over when square-leg umpire Asad Rauf failed to notice a full toss above waist height - were full tosses. Not many realised that any bowler would have found it difficult to grip a ball soaked in dew. And Kulkarni, despite being Mumbai's pace spearhead on the domestic circuit for almost half a decade now, was no exception. Such was the angst against Kulkarni that a reporter asked Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma how "Dhawal Kulkarni did everything he could to lose the match". But Rohit stood firmly behind his team-mate. "Dew takes a lot of things out of equation," Rohit said. "Spinners find it very hard to turn the ball. Bowlers, in general, find it difficult to grip the ball. As far as Dhawal is concerned, you can't be so aggressive. It's just that anybody can have a bad game. You see the way he bowled in the last game. As I said, it's not easy with the dew. You've got to give him some time. "This was just his second game and he came and bowled pretty well, I would say. It's not easy to come and bowl the last over with that wet ball. I think he did a pretty good job." Being criticised despite winning a game isn't the only aspect where Kulkarni belongs to minority. He is also on the list of premier domestic pace bowlers who have been consistently overlooked by the national selectors. Though Pankaj Singh tops that list, Kulkarni is not far behind. His number of five-wicket hauls - 11, to be precise - is almost as much as the number of first-class games played by some of the reputed bowlers. Yet, Kulkarni has not earned a call back to the national side after 2009 and is yet to be offered a central contract. One of Kulkarni's main drawbacks, after returning from the tour in New Zealand in 2009, was lack of pace. However, over the last four years, he has improved on his physique and fitness and it has reflected on his pace as well. "He's an absolute gym man," Rohit said of his team-mate. "He likes to work out, he likes to be fit. I know that he bowled [at] about 140[kph], so it shows that he has been really working hard." Though he went for 44 runs off his four overs against Kings XI, his spell of 4-0-19-3 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, two nights earlier, saw him dismiss the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Rohit reiterated that for a player who has been warming the bench for almost a month, Kulkarni's performance was remarkable. "It's very tough for any player, not just Dhawal," he said. "Woh bechara pichhle chhe-saat matches khela nahi tha [The poor guy was benched for the last six-seven games]. Yet, he bowled a match-winning spell in the last game. On Monday, he defended 17 runs under pressure in the last over." "It's not easy for a guy sitting out to come in with all of us expecting a huge performance from him. Still, I think he showed a lot of maturity. Having played together for many years now, we both understand each other well and it helps both of us," Rohit said.
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