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Kumar Kartikeya Singh is in the form of his life at the moment.

After having a breakthrough season in the Tata IPL with his deceptive variations, Kartikeya has since shifted focus to the red-ball format for his state team Madhya Pradesh.

In the quarterfinals against Punjab, Kartikeya picked a six-wicket haul in the second innings to help MP sail into the semi-finals. However, he does not want to stop there.

“It feels great to have taken this team to the semi-finals. Our target is to go on and win the whole thing, and not be happy with a semi-final appearance alone. We are prepared to do the hard yards for this and I am 100 percent certain we have the ability to win the next two games. You don't win tournaments with marquee names alone; you have to play good cricket to pull it off, and at the moment we are doing exactly that,” Kartikeya stated in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.

The spinner attributes the spell to MP’s head coach, former India wicket-keeper batter, Chandrakant Pandit.

“He guided me on what lines and lengths to stick to and what angles to use. The pitch started taking a bit more turn in the second innings and that made the batters a touch more defensive and that worked to my advantage. I changed my angle a bit and went around the wicket with straighter balls rather than running in on a diagonal. I was able to bowl at a particular spot and that yielded wickets for me,” he said.

Kartikeya was unfazed by the big names in the opposition like Shubman Gill and Mandeep Singh.

“I don't look at the big names in the opposition, rather I just focus on my process and my plans. Things tend to fall in place when you bowl with consistency. Besides, not every day is a batter's day, and it was one such day for me,” he said.

While it was a comfortable 10-wicket win for MP courtesy Kartikeya’s magic, the spinner is staying grounded as he knows there are still areas which can be improved.

“There will always be scope for improvement. Our batting and bowling in this match has been good but we must remember we dropped a few easy catches, especially in the first innings. We had a team meeting right after the match and Chandu sir pointed out the same. When you win, the good things that you have done are visible to everybody, but your mistakes stand out for you alone. These are things we need to quickly work on,” added Kartikeya.

We wish all the best to Kartikeya and the Madhya Pradesh team as they take on Bengal in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals, starting June 14th.