Just when his post-match interview with former India spinner Murali Kartik was about to end, Ashutosh Sharma put his hands up and announced, “I want to dedicate this Player of the Match award to my mentor Shikhar paaji. He’s not here… Thank you,” Ashtosh was unable to complete the sentence. He didn’t need to. Shikhar Dhawan and those watching the broadcast knew exactly what he was trying to say.
Delhi Capitals mentor Kevin Pietersen may have got the immediate credit – Ashutosh himself came up with a switch hit gesture to thank Pietersen – for Ashutosh Sharma’s brilliance against Lucknow Super Giants, but the right-handed batter ensured Dhawan’s contribution behind his rise was not forgotten.
Like a true mentor, Dhawan also closely monitored the 26-year-old’s performance. Dhawan has been Ashutosh’s mentor for a long time now. He greatly advocated Ashutosh’s batting prowess during his time at the Punjab Kings.
On Monday, as soon as he entered the dressing room, he video-called Ashutosjh to congratulate him. DC shared the visuals of Dhawan and Ashutosh’s video call, during which the latter was heard saying “Thank you” many times. When asked to reveal what Dhawan told him, he said, “Paaji was very happy.”
Anyone cricket fan would be after watching Ashutosh bat against LSG on Monday. His blistering 66* off 31 balls snatched a dramatic one-wicket victory over LSG in Visakhapatnam for Delhi Capitals.
Ashutosh lifted left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed for a straight six to carry Delhi to 211-9 with three balls to spare, and handed Rishabh Pant, the IPL’s most expensive player, defeat in his first game as LSG skipper.
LSG controlled the game well until Ashutosh exploded alongside Vipraj Nigam, whose own quickfire 39 off 15 helped to give Delhi hope.
Delhi was set back inside the powerplay when it lost four wickets. Shardul Thakur dismissed Jake Fraser-McGurk (1) and Abishek Porel (0) in his first over.
When Tristan Stubbs was clean-bowled by impact substitute Manimaran Siddharth for 34 in the 13th over, it seemed all over for Delhi at 113-6.
But Ashutosh and Nigam smashed the bowlers at will before Nigam top-edged in the 17th over, with Delhi still needing 42 off 23 balls.
Mitchell Marsh was the eighth man out when he couldn’t read Ravi Bishnoi’s googly and skied a catch to Pant, and Kuldeep Yadav was run out in the penultimate over in a bid to give the strike to Sharma.
With six needed off the final over, Mohit Sharma survived a close stumping chance as the ball deflected off his bat before he stole a single off Ahmed. Ashutosh then finished off the game in style by hitting his fifth six and stunned Lucknow.
A key cog in the Kolkata Knight Riders unit, Ramandeep Singh has become a well-known figure among IPL and Indian cricket fans. The all-rounder is a handy spinner and a power-hitter, which has become useful for KKR on several occasions. However, before KKR, Ramandeep represented Mumbai Indians, making his IPL debut in 2022 under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
Under Rohit’s captaincy, Ramandeep developed into the player we see these days, further improved by KKR’s coaching staff. Recently, appearing on Raj Shamani’s Youtube podcast show, Ramandeep opened up on his playing experience under Rohit, sharing insights into his captaincy mindset. Revealing an incident involving MS Dhoni, Ramandeep, then 24, shed light on how Rohit and his captaincy acumen initially took him by surprise.
“There was a good belief in my batting, but the crowd, you are bowling your first-ever ball, when in IPL, its a very different scenario because you have never experienced that in your life before. You don’t know what is going to happen, the batter could have a good day,” he said.
“So when Rohit gave me the ball and Dhoni was batting, he told me in our first conversation, ‘I want MS Dhoni to smash you’. Because they had lost seven wickets at that point. So if they hit us, good, but if they get out while trying to hit us, then we will win. He already told me earlier there’s no problem. Only a captain can give you that feeling, that freedom which you get in a team, it can only be given through a captain. He is a true leader.”