Follow UsAshutosh Sharma scintillated everyone when he played the innings of 66* off just 31 deliveries in the first game of the season and took Delhi Capitals home in a close encounter against Lucknow Super Giants. He came in to bat in the 7th over that day when the team’s score was 65/5 and helped them chase down the massive target of 210.
While the situation was slightly different against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 5 in Hyderabad, as the Capitals were batting first. However, DC were in a proper rut after half of their batting order was ripped out by Pat Cummins and his bowlers. The score was 62/6 in the 13th over, and DC desperately needed a total on the board.
Ashutosh scored 41 off just 26 deliveries from that position while no other batter in DC was even able to score at a strike rate above 115. He smashed three sixes with so much ease, hitting two against the leg spinner Zeeshan Ansari in the same over. He helped DC cross 120 and set a target of 134 for SRH to chase down on the day.
On a day, when the entire batting lineup failed to score with any rhythm, Ashutosh was not only DC’s troubleshooter, but also showed how the other batters should have backed their strength and targeted batters accordingly to maximise their impact.
To give such impactful performances for your side when you are a top-order batter is much easier in the shortest format of the game than the role Ashutosh played in DC. He comes in as the impact player late in the innings and is always expected to provide an instant injection of energy.
He did exactly the same against Gujarat Titans too in Ahmedabad, where he came in the 15th over with the total being 146, and when he left, the score was 199 with him having added 37 off just 19 deliveries. While DC lost that game, the significance of Ashutosh’s role in the batting order was underlined in bold that day.
186 runs at an average of 31 and a strike rate of 167.6 doesn’t exactly sum up Ashutosh Sharma’s impact with the bat. For that, you need to see what he did today and quite a few times earlier in the IPL ,despite the circumstances of his arrival.