Asia Cup: How Jitesh Sharma kept the competition at bay | Cricket News – Times of India

The proficient wicketkeeper-finisher has charted an unbelievable comeback to India’s T20I group following a interval of intense soul-looking which has helped him unlock his true potential… BENGALURU: T20 cricket in India is brutally aggressive. The high quality of gamers who’re lacking from India’s group for the Asia Cup is ample proof. In this state of affairs, for a 31-12 months-outdated to safe a spot after returning a cumulative 100 runs in 9 T20I matches is an unbelievable comeback. But then, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma at all times had the potential. It was solely a query of discovering himself. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Jitesh made his India T20 debut at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 however hasn’t worn India colors since Jan final 12 months, when he featured towards Afghanistan. Much of the interval has been a interval of immense soul-looking.

This 12 months noticed the emergence of Jitesh 2.0 throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL). Besides preserving wickets and enjoying the position of a finisher, the Vidarbha cricketer additionally assumed the position of stand-in skipper for eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) when Rajat Patidar was injured. Playing in the center order, he returned 261 runs at a strike price of a staggering 176, enjoying some essential knocks in his group’s march to their maiden title. It was that efficiency that earned him his place again in the Indian group.

The turnaround started lengthy earlier than the IPL. Jitesh privately admitted to fellow gamers that he needed to reset mentally, and one of the individuals who helped him throughout the part was India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav. This was round the time the T20 World Cup squad was introduced. Jitesh, who didn’t make the reduce, was down and out. The lengthy haul again started with a dialog with ‘SKY’. During the group announcement earlier this week, Suryakuamar stated, “Post the last T20 World Cup, we spoke a lot about our approach. We said, ‘Let’s not think about milestones, just focus on the journey’. Since then, he’s been a completely different cricketer — slow and steady. The way he performed in the IPL and the domestic tournaments he played, he’s done really well and has earned his spot.” In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Jitesh returned 135 runs in six outings at a strike price of 225. His mentor and batting coach at RCB, Dinesh Karthik, instructed TOI that he at all times noticed potential in Sharma. “Right from the outset, I was very sure Jitesh was someone who would come back into the Indian team and show his skills as a finisher,” stated Karthik. “I think he did quite well in his first stint at IPL, but when the World Cup was around the corner, he put more pressure on himself than he had to and that kind of hindered his performances.” In the off-season, Jitesh labored with Karthik to iron out points, each mentally and gamewise. “He was clear that he needed to target IPL and make sure he won the competition for the team,” stated Karthik. “He was very conscious and very vocal about it. And that was the starting point. It takes a lot of courage for someone to be so honest about a situation like that. And that’s the one thing Jitesh does have in abundance — courage and belief in his skill and at times, admitting to his mistakes as well.” On his work behind the scenes, Karthik stated, “The first thing we worked on was how he can adapt to various situations because he’s got the skill. It was all about understanding how it needs to be done at the back end of an innings… the areas he should target, and the positions he should be getting into. It was very easy as a coach because of how malleable he was in his mind and how willing he was to work and do whatever it took to understand how to win a game or how to set a total up that could be above par in most cases.” Karthik says Jitesh hasn’t grown just as a batter but also as a leader and player with intense game awareness. “He is a leader,” the former India wicketkeeper stated. “When given the opportunity, when Rajat Patidar was injured, he just took over and did a wonderful job with the gloves and with the bat. I’m very excited to see how well he does for India because he has all the tools at his disposal. He simply must understand that he has all it takes to do well in international cricket.”