Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Jitesh Sharma’s 2024 with the Punjab Kings yielded 187 runs from 14 games.
Naturally, when he was picked up with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the 2025 Auction, it raised some brows, but four games into this season, the management’s call is beginning to look less like a gamble and more like a well thought-out call.
Perhaps, they knew of the work Jitesh had put in during the off-season or that he could eventually forge a telling bond with batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik.
Jitesh is nearly in an identical mould as Dinesh, and so he has every available chance to learn from the former Indian ’keeper-batter, and turns out, that’s what’s working for him these days.
“It's been a great journey till now because, in the off-season, I really worked hard with him,” Jitesh said on the eve of RCB’s game against Delhi Capitals. “Whichever shot I am playing right now is the replica of what he used to play. He is trying to make me a new player because he believes in me, and that I can play all around. I am really enjoying to see myself in a new role.
“Honestly, when I am playing those shots, I am very happy because I have never tried those shots,” he added.
Expanding on Karthik’s impact, Jitesh dove into the specifics.
“Last year's performance was my mental thing. I was thinking about future things. But right now, when I met Dinesh bhai, he told me that it was a human error. It's not rocket science. It happens to everyone. So, it's fine,” he said.
The Capital’s assistant coach Matthew Mott, meanwhile, waxed lyrical about Axar Patel’s captaincy. Since Axar was pushed up the ranks to captaincy, the Capitals have won three matches in as many games.
“He's just got a great balance on cricket and life. He'll just summarise the group and make sure the players are included. They've got a smile on their face. He doesn't come across as being the only voice (in the team),” Mott said.
“Also, he's not taking it all on himself. He leverages a lot of the other senior players in the group. KL (Rahul) and Faf du Plessis help him out. He's got a lot of experience to draw on, particularly Faf. We had a productive meeting around that.”