IPL 2024: ‘I had my flight booked… they told me to stay’, reveals Punjab Kings’ star Ashutosh Sharma

Punjab Kings (PBKS) impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma revealed how he was ready to leave after the trials but ended up staying and eventually becoming a part of the franchise in his debut IPL season.

Ashutosh starred for PBKS in their win over Gujarat. PBKS were reeling on 150 for 6 after 15.3 overs in a chase of 200 runs against GT, when the debutant walked out to the crease and went on to stitch up a match-winning partnership of 43 runs in 22 deliveries with Shashank Singh.

In a video posted on the IPL website following the match, Ashutosh stated he was prepared to leave after his PBKS trials until the team management asked him to stay an extra day. The Railways batter revealed that he had been offered a contract by another IPL team, but he chose to stay with PBKS and eventually got in the team.

“I did my trials well with Punjab and was all set to leave for home. I had my flight booked for the night, but then they called me and told me to ‘stay for one more day.’ I had to go for another trial. Then I thought no, If they’re asking me to stay, it could be something good and I will leave the trial of the other team. I didn’t go and that’s why I am part of this side,” said Ashutosh in a video.

Ashutosh also talked about the guidance he received from Sanjay Bangar, the Director of Cricket at PBKS, who had a significant impact on his career. According to the Railways batter, Bangar advised him that he wasn’t a slogger as people had thought and that he should have faith in his amazing cricket strokes.

“Everyone saw me as a slogger. But Bangar sir said that you’re not a slogger. You play some extraordinary cricketing shots, and believe in that. That advice helped me in the Ranji Trophy also as I scored a hundred on debut. That small statement gave me a lot of confidence,” he added.

In the post-match press conference, the batting allrounder credited the domestic season for Railways for his confidence. He had broken the 16-year-old record for the fastest fifty by an Indian back in October 2023, smashing 11-ball half-century in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament Group C clash against Arunachal Pradesh in Ranchi.

“Confidence was there because the coaches and Punjab Kings management believed in me a lot. They were backing me a lot. They told me ‘you’re such a player who is capable of finishing games for us’. That confidence, I carried. I went out to the middle and applied it. I feel happy to have repaid the faith shown by the coaches.

“I didn’t let my thoughts wander around. I thought these are situations that I have faced in Railways. I thought I would consider this chase as something similar and play. I had a lot of confidence. The confidence from winning games for my team in Syed Mushtaq Ali gave me confidence. I was telling myself ‘I will do it’,” Ashutosh said.

With 41 required in 18 deliveries, Ashutosh playing his first IPL game and overall 15th T2O match, smoked three boundaries in Azmatullah Omarzai’s 18th over. Both Ashutosh and Shashank collected 16 runs from Omarzai’s over and brought down the equation to 25 runs in 12 deliveries.

Ashutosh with the second ball maximum and Shashank with the last ball maximum almost pulled by the match for Kings. However, the former got out on the first delivery of the final over but he had already made the job done that Punjab needed.

When 7 needed off 6 deliveries and Shashank with the help of a single from Harpreet Brar and two wides from Darshan Nalkande sealed the match with a boundary and a leg bye single for Kings as PBKS chased down the highest successful target of IPL 2024 with three wickets and one ball left in the inning

The 25-year-old batting allrounder also lauded his batting partner Shashank, who was the warrior for Punjab’s victory against Gujarat with his scintillating innings of 61 off 29.

“It was a very good innings from Shashank Singh. I had confidence in him that he would be able to pull it off. We both are pinch-hitters. We had a belief that we would win the match. We both were very calm, we didn’t panic at all,” Ashutosh said, lauding Shashank for his match-winning contribution.