One of Indian Premier League’s (IPL 2024) USPs is to give lesser-known cricketers a chance to shine in the limelight. This season, we have seen the rise of Lucknow Super Giants’ Mayank Yadav and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
On Thursday, it was the turn of two more uncapped Indians in Punjab Kings’ Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma to enthral audiences as they starred in the stupendous last-over win over Gujarat Titans.
What made their performances more noteworthy were their long years of toil before representing Punjab Kings. Shashank debuted for Mumbai way back in 2015 but moved to Pondicherry, and eventually to Chhattisgarh, the state of his birth, in search of game time.
Despite being on the IPL radar since 2017, he debuted only in 2022, for Sunrisers Hyderabad. But SRH released him after a year and Shashank couldn’t find a taker for the 2023 edition, prompting him to contemplate quitting the game altogether.
He soldiered on, and against GT, he showed what he was capable of, slaying a top-draw attack comprising Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and Mohit Sharma.
“I [tell myself that] I am the best in the world when I go to bat,” Shashank, 32, said. “I don’t see the bowler; I just see the ball. You won’t see me play the scoop, reverse sweep. My plan is to just react to the ball and keep calm.”
Ashutosh, 25, was in the news last October when he broke Yuvraj Singh’s record for the fastest T20 half-century by an Indian with a 11-ball fifty for Railways against Arunachal Pradesh. But his T20 debut was for Madhya Pradesh back in 2018 where he wasn’t trusted to hold a place despite good performances across two seasons.
On Friday, Ashutosh said that the MP experience had left him “depressed”, and it was only at Railways, in 2023-24, that he found support. Against Saurashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he made a 14-ball 45 to help chase down 199.
“I told myself [vs. Titans] that it was the same situation and that I will do it,” Ashutosh said. “Shashank and I had the belief. We were calm and didn’t panic.”
Gujarat Titans Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki was impressed by the total absence of stage-fright.
“The most impressive thing is for them to deal with the pressure, the crowd and the quality of bowling,” Solanki said. “Shot-making is something they are skilled at. But to make the right choice at the right time is the greatest skill.”
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