Delhi Capitals’ last man Mohit Sharma had a simple question for Ashutosh Sharma when the two met at the start of the final over with their team needing 6 runs: “I give you one ball, can you hit it for a six?”. Ashutosh, 26, would give a firm nod and deliver a confident ‘Yes’.
After blocking one ball, Mohit would tap and run a single. Ashutosh now had 4 balls, but he needed one. He smashed the ball over Lucknow SuperGiants off-spinner Shahbaz Ahmed’s head and over the boundary rope. DC had won the match they had almost lost. Also, they finally had a lower-order batsman with the confidence and swagger of a finisher. It was something they had lacked and it was to fill this void that they had paid Rs 3.8 Crore to get Ashutosh. There was another new signing in the dugout, who too had a role to play in DC snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Ashutosh acknowledged the impact that Kevin Pietersen, former England and DC captain, now mentor of the Delhi-based franchise, had on him within minutes of hitting the winning runs. He mimicked KP’s famous ‘switch hit’ and pointed his bat towards the mentor who was getting hugged by other DC team members around him.
Ashutosh’s unbeaten 66 off just 31 balls, ably supported by rookie leg-spinning all-rounder Vipraj Nigam’s 39 off 15, had taken DC home. It was an unlikely result since his team was reeling at 65/5 in the seventh over. At that stage, the required rate was almost touching 10. The target of 210 looked too far. After scoring 20 off the first 20 balls he faced, Ashutosh would explode, going on to hit 46 runs off the next 11 balls.
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Take a bow, #AshutoshSharma
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Back in the day, KP played such match-winning knocks. He would walk on to the turf to receive the day’s last action hero. “Brilliant, brilliant … it is about the mindset,” he would tell Ashutosh. He would also convey to him what he was telling others in the dugout during the tense moments of the game. “I told them, this game is not over till Ashutosh is batting.” KP would then slap his arms just like ring-side boxing coaches do to motivate their wards.
The DC social media handle put out a post that would show the master and disciple before the game. “Getting your team in a great position is one thing but great players finish games off.” – KP is heard advising. Ashotosh has been showing shades of IPL greatness of late – for Punjab Kings last season and DC now.
After bailing out the team from a deep hole, Ashutosh gave a glimpse about his mindset. “I learned from last year, because there were a few games where I couldn’t finish it off, so I have been focusing on finishing games, even in domestic cricket. I have a lot of belief in myself that if I play till the last over and the last ball, anything can happen. Because you just have to stay calm, and believe, and think about what shots you can play that you have practiced, so that’s what I did today,” he said.
Ashutosh has been a fighter since his childhood days. During his interaction with The Indian Express last year, he spoke about leaving his home in Ratlam when he was just 11. He moved to Indore and stayed in rented accomodation with another friend who was around the same gae. His elder brother helped him get a room that was part of an office, whose owner would be his local guardian.
Ashu decides when it’s game over
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“It was a lot of struggle, I stayed alone in Indore in a room with a friend. It has been 13 years I have been staying alone in Indore. I left home at 11 and then I was part of the MPCA academy. Amey Khurusiya was my coach for five years and then I stayed alone again. I represented MPCA last in 2019 and then I joined Railways,” he had said.
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During his early days in Indore, Ashutosh would miss his mother a lot and at times cry. But after some time it became normal for him. He barely knew that down the line, he would make a few bowlers and owners cry as he was going to snatch wins from his opponents.
Former Indian batsman-turned-coach Amay Khurasia vividly remembers the first time he saw Ashutosh, a young kid who was struggling to tie his bootlaces at the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Academy (MPCA) in Indore.
“When you see him opening the batting, you will forget many players. He was rare at 12. He has an attitude in his batting. He is a modest and honest boy but if you put him against a bowler, he will hit them out of the park, he doesn’t show respect to the bowlers. He will play his shots. Even at that age, he didn’t fear facing bowlers double his age; not every 12-year-old kid can do that,” Khurasia had told this paper last year.
More than a decade later, it is that courage that defines Ashoutosh’s batting and character. Not many would show the dare to say that they are fine in getting just one ball when their team needs six runs.