Birthday special: Kartik Tyagi – The U19 star pacer with a bright future
Living up to the motto ‘Talent Meets Opportunity’, the Indian Premier League (IPL) again announced a promising seamer to the cricket fraternity. A fast-medium pace bowler who loves to swing the ball both ways at a moderate pace, Kartik Tyagi made a global statement with his dream debut in IPL 2020 for Rajasthan Royals (RR). As the young gun turns 20 on November 8, let’s flip the pages and revisit his journey in the Indian cricket.
Hailing from Dhanaura village of Hapur town in Uttar Pradesh, Tyagi started his journey at a tender age of 11. He showed his character at U-14 level and continued his exploits in the Cooch Behar Trophy U-19 tournament, taking 50 wickets. This earned a 17-year-old Kartik a place in the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Side for the 2017-18 edition. Till now he has featured in just 1 first-class game taking 1 wicket at an economy of 1.60. He made his List A debut in Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2018 for Uttar Pradesh and has featured in 5 games picking as many five wickets at an economy of 5.55.
Tuesday’s @Nissan Play of the Day was this brilliant yorker from Kartik Tyagi ? #U19CWC | #FutureStars pic.twitter.com/CMIabyQKRE
— ICC (@ICC) January 29, 2020
Shining on the national stage
Kartik has also travelled with the Indian U-19 team for tours of England, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. He took nine wickets in five games in the Youth ODI series followed by six wickets off three against Afghanistan U-19. A fine run in overseas series for the U-19 team resulted in Tyagi’s inclusion in the U-19 World Cup squad for 2020.
Kartik showed sheer class in the Under-19 World Cup 2020 as he finished the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets in six matches. He also bowled a stunning spell of 4/24 against Australia in the tournament. He was named man of the match for the same. Tyagi also holds the record of taking a hat-trick in the very first over he bowled against Bangladesh in a warm-up match during U19 WC.
The 20-year-old’s pace variations and his execution of pin-point yorkers impressed the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals and they picked him for a staggering amount of INR 1.30 crore in the IPL auction 2020. Though the Uttar Pradesh rookie had to warm the bench for the first few games, he made his much-awaited IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals (RR) against Mumbai Indians on October 6.
The young gun made headlines from his first match only as he picked the priced wicket of the South Africa cricket team captain Quinton de Kock while conceding just 36 runs in his four overs. Since then there has been no looking back for Kartik as he took 9 wickets in 10 fixtures at an economy of 9.61 and average of 40.77, 2/36 being his most economical spell.
Tyagi named the priced wickets of the greats of the game under his belt including Indian team and Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli, Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer, DC’s power-hitter Shimron Hetmyer, Sunrisers Hyderabad Jonny Bairstow, CSK’s Shane Watson and many more.
The future looks bright for Kartik Tyagi. He just needs to perform consistently in the domestic circuit and stay fit to don the India colours at the international level.
