In a nail-biting IPL match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) Ashutosh Sharma left a lasting impression despite the team’s narrow loss to Mumbai Indians (MI).
Ashutosh’s explosive innings nearly turned the game on its head, but MI clinched a 9-run victory, thanks to crucial performances by Jasprit Bumrah (3/21) and Gerald Coetzee (3/32) and a pivotal 78-run contribution from Suryakumar Yadav.
Ashutosh, who scored a rapid 61 runs from 28 balls, including seven sixes, shared that he had been looking forward to facing MI’s pace spearhead. “It was my dream to hit a sweep shot off Jasprit Bumrah. I have been practising these shots. It’s a game of cricket so it’s very common. we have to focus on our process. When I was playing I had the belief to pull off a win,” he explained during the post-match presentation.
His standout moment came when he executed a perfect sweep for six off an overstepped delivery by Bumrah in the 13th over, a shot he had repeatedly practiced in the nets. The young batter also mentioned the impact of guidance he received from PBKS’s Head of Cricket Development, Sanjay Bangar. “Sanjay [Bangar] sir told me that, ‘you’re not a slogger; you play proper cricketing shots and you should focus on [honing] that’. It was that small statement and a show of confidence from him that has made a huge difference for me and turned my game. I’m now just trying to follow that,” Ashutosh reflected.
Despite the loss, Ashutosh’s performance was a silver lining, and PBKS will be hoping to leverage this momentum in their upcoming game against Gujarat Titans (GT) back at the same venue on Sunday.
