Courtesy: BCCI/IPL/RCB
Jitesh Sharma, the Indian wicket-keeper batter, has credited Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik for his exceptional start with the bat and behind the stumps in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. After performing poorly in the IPL last season, and losing his spot in the Indian T20I team, the 31-year-old has made a telling impact for RCB this year, scoring runs at a high strike-rate to ensure that his team reached above par total on multiple occasions.
Notably, in the IPL last season, while playing for Punjab Kings (PBKS), he played 12 innings, scoring just 187 runs at an average of 17 and a strike-rate of 131.69 before being released ahead of the mega auction. RCB signed him for a whopping INR 11 crore contract ahead of the IPL 2025, and he has repaid the faith with strong batting performances, scoring runs at an incredible strike-rate of 184.78 in his first four innings for the franchise.
In his previous innings against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium, Jitesh Sharma got 40 runs in just 19 balls, which proved to be the difference for RCB in winning the contest. Ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025 match against high flying Delhi Capitals (DC) at home, he spoke in the press conference about last season of the IPL, and said, as per ESPNcricinfo, “I think last year's performance was my mental thing. I have told everyone about that because I was not mentally in the game at that moment. I was thinking about future things.”
Dinesh Karthik found out that I am lacking in some shots: Jitesh Sharma
After that, Jitesh Sharma discussed the turnaround in fortunes at the start of IPL 2025 in RCB colours, explaining the role that Dinesh Karthik played in it. He remarked, “When I went to Dinesh bhai, he told me that it's a human error. It's not rocket science. It doesn't happen to anyone. It happens to everyone. When he saw my batting, the way I bat, how I try to dominate - I am someone who always looks for the winning, I don't have the craze to get runs. I have the craze to win matches. I like that a lot. He found out that I am lacking in some shots. He found out that I am working on that.”
“It's been a great journey till now. Because in off-season, I really worked hard with him [Karthik].. Whichever shot I am playing right now is a replica of what he used to play,” Jitesh Sharma added.
