Ashutosh Sharma - a maverick with batting smarts

Ashutosh has been resplendent in a team where a majority of players with rich experience have been lacklustre.
 By Darpan Jain Apr 22, 2024, 06:43 IST
Ashutosh Sharma is a good player.?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4
Ashutosh has all the attributes to be a prosperous and bankable batter in the lower order.

What’s the hardest job for a batter in T20 cricket? The response would be death overs batting with one voice. Ashutosh Sharma might argue and why not?

After all, he is striking at 200 and finding ropes every 3.61 deliveries in the final four overs this IPL season. Ashutosh has been resplendent in a team where a majority of players with rich experience have been lacklustre. For IPL, the rise of another young and lurking talent is business as usual, and numerous familiar tales unfold every edition.

Ashutosh Sharma’s story might be similar, but his skillsets are distinct in multiple ways. For starters, he is consistent in a role that allows more failures than any other, more so for local neophytes. Ashutosh might have boasted a T20 strike rate in excess of 195 and an 11-ball fifty in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but IPL is a different gravy and many high-flying talents have faltered here.

Ashutosh has all the attributes to be a prosperous and bankable batter in the lower order. The power-hitting can often be confounded with slogging, but modern-day bowlers are shrewd enough to gauge it and react accordingly. Someone like Andre Russell has been a culprit of slogging in the past, resulting in constant failures.

Also Read: 'I'll do everything I can' - RCB star determined to break into India's T20 World Cup squad at any cost

Ashutosh has the muscles to clear the ropes, which is very much visible in his shots. Not many can bludgeon Mohit Sharma’s back-of-a-hand slower delivery over wide long-on for a maximum or wallop a boundary on one knee off a very wide low full toss by T Natarajan towards wide long-on. When Ashutosh hit them, they were as clean as they could get; something well-oiled finishers crave for.

However, what separates him is his batting smarts under pressure. While he is an on-side dominant batter, as most power-hitters are, his open-mindedness and the ability to remain flexible have been a promising strength. Ashutosh premeditates his shot selection but doesn’t confine himself and plays even if the ball is not meant for that stroke.

“Sanjay sir told me I am not a slogger. You play cricketing shots and focus on that. That small statement meant a lot to me. I am following that. I am not a hard-hitter, I can play proper cricketing shots.”

He is indeed not limited to hard-hitting and possesses a great range of shots. Pat Cummins has been quite threatening with his shorter-length deliveries at different paces this season, but Ashutosh had a catalyst to counter it. When Cummins tried an off-pace similar ball to limit the batter, Ashutosh waited for it and ramped it efficiently over the wicketkeeper’s head for a four.

An intriguing aspect of this shot was the boundary he had hit on the preceding delivery with his brute power. Cummins bowled a pacy back-of-a-length delivery but gave slight room to the batter, who dispatched it for a boundary past the deep cover point in a flash. The fielder at the backward point wasn’t far but had no time to react, and even if he had put his hand somehow, the ball would have taken that palm with itself over the cushions; such was the force on that shot.

Now, the interesting part is that Ashutosh knew the next one would be slow and into the body now that the pacy one was taken down with disdain. It has been a crucial facet of his batting. While he picks lengths early, a necessity of power-hitting, Ashutosh predetermines the pace and the line it would come at to position himself.

Akash Madhwal and Jasprit Bumrah tried yorkers, but Ashutosh treated them differently. When Bumrah tried a yorker, he used his pace to slog sweep it for a six over the backward square leg. But he brought a reverse scoop for a leg-side fuller delivery off Madhwal to toy with the field since the third man was inside the circle.

Since Bumrah hardly misses his mark, Ashutosh took it on a full toss and used a slog sweep to get the maximum result. But he waited deep into his crease against Madhwal, who had already erred on his yorkers a few times, to bring out a reverse scoop at the end moment. It’s not that Ashutosh couldn’t have played another slog sweep off Madhwal, but he was prudent enough to manoeuvre the fields.

A lot of that is obviously possible because of the range of shots he possesses in his repertoire. From drawing a wide outside off full toss towards wide long-on to periscoping a slower short delivery over the wicketkeeper’s head to reverse scooping a leg-side full ball over the third man, Ashutosh Sharma has shown it all in the space of four matches.

Most power-hitters specifically design themselves to play a few balls and make an immediate impact, but Ashutosh has shown he can go on and on at the same rate. When he arrived, PBKS were reeling at 77/6 in the tenth over against Mumbai Indians and looked to be going down quickly. But Ashutosh kept batting till the 18th over and made PBKS favourites with three overs to go but couldn’t take them through.

The expansion of IPL is often deemed a reason for the worsening quality of the league overall. But the emergence of talents like Ashutosh has been possible only due to it. The Impact Player rule has further opened opportunities for domestic players. Sure, quality ones find their way somehow, but they have to wait longer to reach a stage like IPL, and the chances are minimal to prove themselves.

Would Ashutosh Sharma have gotten to bat this season if there was no rule to bring an additional batter? Shashank Singh, 32, debuted in IPL 2022 when two new teams were included in the competition. People are wondering where he was all these years. But the truth is Shashank travelled with Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in previous editions but couldn’t feature due to fewer opportunities and more star players in the starting XI.

Like everything else, the IPL expansion and Impact Player rule have pros and cons. Apart from the entertainment, they also bring fresh talents to the fore. There is a high possibility that Shashank would have had his maiden outing this year if IPL had only eight teams, and players like Ashutosh would have to warm the bench for the whole season in case of no Impact Player rule.

The recent trends have changed, and teams bank on domestic players to bat in the lower order and provide impetus to the innings. It has largely been possible due to players like Ashutosh Sharma. As for quality, it will improve once new guns get a complete idea of the setup, and players like Ashutosh Sharma have shown they adapt better and more swiftly than overseas ones.

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