Ashutosh Sharma (Photo by indianexpress.com)
Ashutosh Sharma continued from where he left off in IPL 2024, blasting a stunning unbeaten 66 off just 31 deliveries to power Delhi Capitals to a sensational one-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants at Visakhapatnam on Monday. Ashutosh came out to bat as the Impact Substitute at 65 for 5 with his team under pressure and lit the stadium with his breathtaking stroke-play, leaving the LSG bowlers in shock and disarray. His clean striking and ability to clear the ropes, coupled with a cool head and excellent temperament, stood out—just as it did in the last edition when he combined with Shashank Singh to pull off some incredible chases for Punjab Kings.
RG dissects Ashutosh Sharma – the finisher in T20 cricket.
It was the 17th match of IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Punjab Kings, chasing a stiff 200, needed 50 off 27 deliveries with just four wickets in hand when Ashutosh joined Shashank Singh at the crease. The rest is history! Ashutosh hammered a match-winning 31 off just 17 deliveries, dominating the 43-run stand with Shashank as PBKS stormed to victory off the penultimate ball of the match.
Ashutosh wasn’t a one-match pony but a stallion for the long race. He joined hands with Shashank at 114 for 6 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mullanpur and blasted an undefeated 33 off just 15 deliveries—even as his team fell agonizingly short of the 183-run target to go down by two runs. Ashutosh and Shashank put together a smashing 66-run partnership off just 27 deliveries for the seventh wicket, giving a real scare to the Sunrisers.
The party wasn’t over just yet. The more hopeless the situation, the better the response from Ashutosh. He came out to bat with his franchise in dire straits (which had often been the case with PBKS in the last few years) at 77 for 6, chasing 193 against Mumbai Indians at Mullanpur, and tonked a mind-boggling 61 off just 28 deliveries. His breathtaking performance took PBKS to within striking distance of the target. However, they were bowled out for 183 with five deliveries still remaining. The standout feature of Ashutosh’s knock was his seven sixes. He did not care for reputation or pace, taking on Gerald Coetzee and even slog-sweeping a yorker from the great Jasprit Bumrah for a maximum!
Ashutosh’s heroics for his new franchise—the Delhi Capitals—weren’t just a fluke or a flash in the pan. He has done this—scored tough runs under pressure, time and again, taking his team from near-impossible situations, especially in run chases—to the brink of victory.
There is a method to his madness, too. Ashutosh’s favourite shot is the pull shot, which has fetched him 65 runs off just 29 deliveries in the IPL at a strike rate of 224. He is also brilliant straight down the ground and has hammered 26 runs off just seven deliveries with the straight drive. Ashutosh mixes aggressive conventional strokeplay with high-quality unorthodox hitting and is quite adept at playing the paddle scoop too.
Ashutosh has an astonishing record in all T20 cricket and scores his runs at the rate of knots. He has blasted 838 runs in 29 innings at a sensational strike rate of 184.6, smashing 64 fours and almost as many sixes (63)! His scoring rate is the highest in T20 history for a minimum of 800 runs! Still early days, but this is no mean achievement and showcases the sheer destructiveness of Ashutosh’s batting.
Ashutosh stormed into the limelight when he smoked an 11-ball fifty for Railways against Arunachal Pradesh in the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Ranchi. Batting at number 6, he smashed 53 off just 12 deliveries in a knock which contained eight towering sixes! It remains the fastest T20 fifty ever by an Indian batter and the second-fastest overall!
Nikhil Narain
