Follow UsAshutosh Sharma is the talk of the town, all thanks to his brilliant innings for Delhi Capitals against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in what was the season opener of IPL 2025 for both the teams.
The right-handed batter scored an unbeaten 66 off 31 balls and took his team past the winning target of 210. However, all has not been hunky-dory for Ashutosh between a fantastic debut season with the Punjab Kings and this one with the Capitals.
He was not even picked for his Railways team’s first few matches and only after the intervention of the public sector undertaking, Nikhil Doru, did Ashutosh make his Ranji Trophy debut and score a century in the first match itself, showing that he could bat in all formats.
Doru, who fought for the inclusion of a game-changer in the playing 11, revealed how selectors thought that Ashutish did not have the game for red-ball cricket.
“The selectors were completely unwilling to pick him in the Railways' squad for the Ranji Trophy. They said, 'Ashutosh doesn't know how to bat. He can only hit big shots'. "I kept pushing for his selection, terming him a necessity considering his ability to emerge as a game-changer," Doru was quoted as saying by The Times of India.com.
“Ashutosh wasn't picked in the squad for the first three-four matches. However, he eventually got selected for the game against Gujarat, being fully aware that he would definitely be dropped in case he fails, since the selectors were still strongly against him," he added.
So far, Ashutosh has played 8 First-Class, 14 List-A games and 33 T20s.