Follow UsFormer India captain Sunil Gavaskar and former Australia captain Michael Clarke heaped heavy praise on Ashutosh Sharma after the 26-year-old smoked 66* off 31 deliveries to propel Delhi Capitals (DC) to a one-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
Chasing a target of 210, DC lost their first five wickets for 65 runs, and that’s when Ashutosh walked out to bat as an Impact Sub. Tristan Stubbs (34 off 22) and Vipraj Nigam (39 off 15) also chipped in, but it was Ashutosh who got DC over the line alongside No.11 Mohit Sharma. Ashutosh smashed five sixes and as many fours as DC won the game with three balls to spare.
"We're going to witness many unbelievable innings throughout this IPL, but I promise you, by the end of the tournament, this will be in the top five. That was a match-winning effort, single-handedly turning the game around. His team was out of the contest, gone, and he stood up on his own. All he needed was the strike - everyone knew he was either going to hit a six or a four. Honestly, you just have to sit back, applaud, and embrace that innings, no matter which team you support. It was phenomenal,” Clarke said on JioHotstar.
Last season for Punjab Kings, Ashutosh hit 189 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 167.25 and also finished a couple of games for the franchise. "Once you've done it before, you enter the next season with even greater self-belief. He's also played another season of domestic cricket, where he has been smashing the ball around and scoring plenty of runs, so he came in full of confidence,” said Gavaskar.
"From the very first ball, he was striking it cleanly from the middle of the bat, sending it deep - these weren't just occasional sixes clearing the boundary, they were landing in the stands, again and again. This innings will be remembered for a long, long time, not just because of the quality of stroke play, but because of the high-pressure situation."
The right-handed batter from Madhya Pradesh, who was bought by DC for INR 3.8 crore in the mega auction, feels he has gotten better this year. “Missed out on finishing the game on a couple of occasions in the previous season. The whole year I focussed and visualised about it. Had the belief that if I play till the last over, anything can happen.
"Last year was really good but that's history for me. I have taken the positives from there and worked on myself, to improve whatever weaknesses I had. I'm applying what I did in domestic cricket. I just follow the basics and believed in my ability. I was just following the process. I wanted to go deep as much as possible so that I could hit in the slog overs."