The 26 year old youngster Ashutosh Sharma from Madhya Pradesh played for his state team in 2017-18 and moved to Railways team after that. Ashutosh Sharma became popular for the first time after smashing the fastest fifty in T20 cricket by an Indian in just 11 balls in SMAT 2023.
Ashutosh Sharma was picked by the Punjab Kings in 2024 IPL. He played 11 matches for them and scored 189 runs in a strike rate of 167. He, along with Shashank Singh made a destructive pair at the death overs for Punjab. Having 2 Indian Finishers looked like a big advantage for the kings. It’s a rare combo in IPL. It’s quite surprising that Punjab released him in the mega auction.
PBKS retained Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh ahead of the mega auction. Asutosh was picked by Delhi Capitals for 3.5 cr in the auction. Despite performing well and equally to Shashank Singh, he didn’t receive the attention he deserved.
Ashutosh Sharma’s glimpses of being a finisher
Last year, in a few matches he, along with Shashank Singh, took Punjab so close to victory from nowhere but couldn’t cross the line. May be that’s the reason he didn’t get the recognition, and also he didn’t had any auction stories like Shashank. So the media didn’t cover him much. Ashutosh Sharma’s calm & composed & fiery knock of 66 runs in 31 balls not only won the match but gave a confidence to entire DC unit.
Now after finishing the first match for Delhi from nowhere he became sensation again and proved his worth to everyone. Even Kevin Peiterson, Mentor of Delhi Capitals was talking about Asutosh and Vipraj in his interview during the second innings when other DC batsmen are struggling in the crease. He praised Ashutosh and told that the management trusts his finishing skills. Asutosh didn’t betray his mentor’s faith in the end.
Ashutosh Sharma dedicates performance to Shikhar Dhawan
After winning the man of the match award, he dedicated it to Shikhar Dhawan. He met Dhawan at the training camp of Punjab Kings last year. Dhawan got impressed by his outlook and gifted his bat to him. It turned out to be a lucky bat for Asutosh as he scored a century in his Ranji Trophy debut against Gujarat. Their bond even become stronger during 2024 IPL season as they shared the same dressing room.
Dhawan used to mentor him about visualization, manifestation and positive thinking. He always stresses that these 3 things are most important for a batsman to built the innings and accelerate it. Hope this youngster raises even more and do wonders for his National team too in the near future.
Also Read: DC vs LSG: Ashutosh Sharma’s Breath-Taking Match Winning Knock