Even amidst the sometimes-blinding glitz and glamour of elite sport, small gestures and a little backing can go a long way in enabling success.
Ashutosh Sharma may have taken the cricketing world by storm with his pyrotechnics and consistent run of high-impact knocks in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but it was Punjab Kings’ Head of Cricket Development Sanjay Bangar’s belief that he was much more than a mere ‘slogger’ that struck a chord with the 25-year-old.
“Sanjay sir told me I am not a slogger. You play cricketing shots and focus on that. That small statement meant a lot to me. I am following that. I am not a hard-hitter, I can play proper cricketing shots,” Ashutosh said after his 28-ball 61 against Mumbai Indians that put Punjab on the brink of a scarcely believable win.
Since making his debut in the IPL as an Impact Player and scoring a match-winning 17-ball 31 against Gujarat Titans, Ashutosh has racked up scores of 33* (15), 31 (16), before going into overdrive against MI with 61 off 28. It is largely down to his team’s top order woes that three of these four knocks have resulted in agonisingly close defeats.
ALSO READ: From Ratlam to Railways - the challenging journey of ‘record-breaker’ Ashutosh Sharma
Ashutosh has struck 13 sixes in 76 balls this season, amounting to one maximum after less than every six balls. But a slog sweep over the backward square-leg rope off Jasprit Bumrah on Thursday topped the list and catapulted Ashutosh into modern cricketing folklore.
“It was my dream, to sweep Bumrah. I had been practising this shot, but it happened to come off against the world’s best bowler. It’s part of the game,” he said with cheeky smile, laying emphasis on the last part of the statement that is otherwise overlooked as a platitude in sporting parlance.
Given his penchant for visualisation, which has helped him deliver the goods with consistency under pressure, Ashutosh had probably recreated and replayed this shot in his head several times.
“I love to visualise. I used to visualise that such a situation would come. I got that situation. I told myself, I am finishing this. When I went inside, I didn’t feel the pressure because I had told myself that I had already finished the game,” he had said after leading Punjab to a three-wicket win in Ahmedabad.
Ashutosh exuded the same confidence after the nine-run loss to Mumbai. “I had the belief that I would do it. Throughout my stay at the crease, I thought we would win,” he said.
An image of unfaltering self-belief even in defeat, it is sometimes hard to imagine the Madhya Pradesh-born batter was struggling with depression due to lack of game-time a few years ago.
After notching up three fifties in seven matches at a strike rate of more than 165 in the 2019-20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Madhya Pradesh, Ashutosh was inexplicably dropped for the following season and didn’t get a game on the domestic circuit for the next four years.
“When I was captain, I just picked him in my one-day squad. I knew this guy had talent and picked him in T20s as well. I was hopeful that in two-three years, he would get picked regularly, but unfortunately, after my retirement from MP, the new coach didn’t give him chances. They had their own agenda,” former Madhya Pradesh captain and Indian cricketer Naman Ojha told Sportstar.
Ashutosh made his T20 and List A debut in 2018 and 2019, respectively, under Ojha’s captaincy but had to wait until 2023 to play another white-ball game after moving to Railways, where he broke Yuvraj Singh’s record for the fastest fifty by an Indian against Arunachal Pradesh in just his second game for the team.
Ojha, who retired from the white-ball format in 2019, said he had seen Ashutosh’s game from close quarters since his childhood, and decided to bring him onboard when MP was looking for an aggressive opener.
“I have seen him since his childhood. As captain, my team wasn’t doing too well. Me and the coach [Harvinder Singh Sodhi] thought that we needed a young opener who can score runs at a strike rate of more than 125-130. Suddenly, Ashutosh’s name clicked in everyone’s mind,” Ojha said.
Throughout the 2019 SMAT season, Ashutosh opened the innings with his skipper Ojha and partnered him at the top in the lone List A game he played for MP, scoring a 20-ball 21.
“I was so disappointed when he told me that he was not picked up after scoring two-three half-centuries in four innings. He also told me that he was not even allowed to go on the ground and had to sit inside the hotel. He isn’t that kind of player who you can’t even bring onto the field,” Ojha lamented, referring to the time Ashutosh spent warming the bench for MP, during which his activities were reduced to training in the gym before resigning to the confines of his room.
Ojha, a stalwart on the domestic circuit who Ashutosh idolises, also hails from the cricketing backwaters of Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh and says the hard yards will hold the 25-year-old in good stead.
With Ratlam lacking in a vibrant cricketing culture of facilities, Ashutosh joined a club in Indore before being selected in MP’S 15-member squad by former India cricketer Amay Khurasiya through an MPCA residential academy trial.
Now, there are already whispers of his national selection doing the rounds.
Ojha believes national selectors should start blooding Ashutosh in at the international level while he is still young.
Punjab Kings player Ashutosh Sharma plays a shot during the IPL T20 cricket match against Mumbai Indians at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV/ The Hindu
“If he performs like this, he may get a chance in the Indian T20 team for bilateral series after the T20 World Cup. He is very young and selectors can select him as they are always fond of young talent. Give him a chance in T20s and one-dayers. Give him a chance now so that he is ready for the next World Cup,” the 40-year-old said.
Ashutosh is Punjab’s second-highest run-scorer this season despite having faced just 76 balls and batting in the lower middle-order. However, Ojha wants Ashutosh to evolve purely as a specialist finisher, which he says is a rare commodity in Indian cricket.
“I think the finisher’s role is very difficult. We have seen Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya as finishers. Now, this new lad has showcased his talent on this stage. He should also bat at No. 6-7, because we hardly have finishers in Indian cricket. He can be the next big thing in Indian cricket, if nurtured properly,” Ojha remarked.
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