K.V Siddharth, Karnataka's 'Mr Consistent' is warming the benches, and it's a bitter pill to swallow

Historically, as the cliche says - cricket is a team game - and there's absolutely no grain of doubt about it. However, modern-day cricket has become as much an individual game as it is a team game and it's not wrong to say that a cricketer can contribute to the team only when they're a part of the XI.

Contributions, though, come only when given chances, and over the years, we have seen numerous examples of a Player of the Match being dropped for the very next game citing team combination and the playing conditions' demands.

In 2017, Karun Nair was dropped after his triple century for India and very recently, Kuldeep Yadav had to sit out even after registering an 8-wicket haul vs Bangladesh. On similar lines, in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022/23 season, Karnataka's 'Mr Consistent', K.V Siddharth, is warming the benches for the fourth successive game of the tournament. That’s apart from the statistic that he was the state's highest run-getter last season, with 410 runs from 7 innings at a fantastic average of 58.57.

To be fair, apart from scoring runs, Siddharth, quite conspicuously, has looked the most complete Karnataka batter in the last few seasons. Yet, the Karnataka think-tank inexplicably turned a blind eye to all these factors in the guise of giving opportunities to youngsters. Though this harsh decision may be dubbed 'a team cause', these kinds of snubs are unequivocally a bitter pill to swallow for the players and can demotivate them. We have seen many cricketers lose confidence and go astray due to a lack of consistent opportunities despite doing well, haven't we?

KV Siddharth: The rock in Karnataka's middle order who always swears by solidity and consistency

While most of his junior-level teammates such as Ravikumar Samarth, Shreyas Gopal, KL Rahul and Karun Nair, among others, made their First-Class debuts in their late teens or early 20s, Siddharth took a bit of time to graduate to the next level.

He was just days away from his 26th birthday when he made his First Class debut for Karnataka, which came against Vidarbha in 2018/19. Though he had a quiet debut, the stylish right-hander was in his element in the very second game he played by scoring 161 and 71* against Mumbai, at Belagavi and since then, hasn't looked back ever since.

Consequently, in the 2019/20 season, despite missing the first half of the league phase due to a shoulder injury, Siddharth returned in style and bailed Karnataka out of trouble on a tricky pitch in Jammu with his timely knocks of 76 and 98 against a rejuvenated Jammu and Kashmir team.

'"K.V is our crisis man and he scores those tough runs when the team is in dire straits," said the-then Karnataka coach Yere Gouda. Skipper Karun Nair, too, joined in on the chorus and heaped praise on Siddharth after those priceless knocks.

The 29-year-old's batting reached its pinnacle in the 2021/22 season where he ended up with 410 runs, the most by a Karnataka batter, with a century and two half-centuries to his credit in only four games.

Karnataka's inconsistent team performances saw their campaign come to an end in the quarterfinals of that season with a loss against Uttar Pradesh, which also put a rude stop to Siddharth's purple patch.

More than the number of runs Siddharth has scored over the years, it's the manner in which he nonchalantly goes about his business that separates him from the rest.

Without a shadow of a doubt, he's been Karnataka's best red-ball batter in the recent past. There is undoubtedly a sense of calm in the dressing room when Siddharth is batting out in the middle. With a watertight technique and the ability to score equally well against both pace and spin, Siddharth is a quintessential long-format player.

That's not to say that he's been off in the white ball format. In 16 List A games, he's notched up four half-centuries and boasts an average of 48, ticking most boxes that define a modern-day batter.

Ranji Trophy 2022/23: A rude shock for the naturally calm man

Injuries have played an unfortunate part in keeping Siddharth away from the action, and he missed the entire white-ball leg of the 2022/23 domestic season due to injury concerns.

Fortunately, he was match-fit and ready to conquer opponents in the Ranji Trophy. Considering his recent contributions and undying ability, one would have hoped Siddharth would walk into the XI straightaway, but the Karnataka think-tank had different ideas, and the team's most consistent batter was in for a shock of his life.

He was left out of the team to accommodate two debutants, Nikin Jose and Vishal Onat, in the first game of the season against Services. While a few journalists expressed their shock and displeasure over Siddharth's omission, ex-Karnataka player and coach Sreenath Arvind took to Twitter to express his disappointment at the unfair treatment meted out to a batter who'd done no wrong.

However, these outbursts seem to have fallen on deaf ears and Siddharth is unbelievably fulfilling the 12th man's duties in Karnataka's ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Chattisgarh.

With Vishal Onat having scored 90+ and Nikin Jose impressing with a 61 against his name in the previous games, adding to the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Samarth and Manish Pandey being the 'undroppables' in the batting lineup, Siddharth would need nothing short of a miracle to break into the Karnataka XI.

To make matters worse, the competition is only going to get more challenging once Devdutt Padikkal and Rahul return to the squad close to the business end of the tournament.

Simply put, the men at the helm for Karnataka have inexplicably jeopardized Siddharth's prospects for the season for no plausible reason. While grooming youngsters for the future is the need of the hour, one has to understand that no sane team does it at the expense of their best batter.

Well, what are the odds of a team's top-scorer finding himself in such a precarious situation after hardly putting a foot wrong? In his career spanning 20 First-Class matches, the solid right-hander has scored 1469 runs at a healthy average of 45, with three centuries and 10 fifties.

Looking at his numbers, you ought to feel for Siddharth, given the shabby treatment he's been receiving after all the hard work he's put in. It's a poignant feeling for his fans and cricket fans in general, to see him carrying drinks and wearing an apron over his jersey. All one can hope is that he's been communicated on what's happening and why he has been left out.

Karnataka cricket fans will still harbour hope that Siddharth is on the radar and gets his chances sooner rather than later. For a team that's been struggling to produce quality batters who can score under pressure, losing Siddharth will be a body blow, one that will be self-inflicted.

It's highly pragmatic to avoid a Ganesh Satish kind of scenario again. Siddharth is only 30 and still has a lot of cricket left in him. Karnataka cricket loyalists will hope the men who matter have learnt their lessons and put together their thoughts in order before it's too late.

You're a champion batter, Siddharth. Hang in there, you'll get your due!