Ashutosh Sharma adds, “Playing sweep shot against Jasprit Bumrah was my dream.”

Amidst his team’s IPL match against Mumbai Indians, Ashutosh Sharma, the batting star for Punjab Kings, claimed to have experienced a “dream” as he swept “world’s best fast bowler” Jasprit Bumrah.

Here on Thursday, the 25-year-old Ashutosh destroyed the bowling of the Mumbai Indians, captained by Bumrah, smashing seven sixes and two fours to reach 61 off only 28 balls. With that innings, PBKS recovered from an early collapse.

PBKS was 17/4 during the powerplay, but they managed to get within nine runs of MI’s 193-run mark thanks to a magnificent comeback by Ashutosh and Shashank Singh (41).

Ashutosh went down on his front in the 13th over of Punjab’s chase, turning a Bumrah yorker attempt into a full toss and smashing it for a six over backward square leg.

“Beating Bumrah with a sweep shot was my dream.” After the game, Ashutosh told the reporters here, “I was practicing for that shot, but it came against the best bowler in the world; it’s just part of the game.”

Ashutosh expressed his confidence in leading Punjab to victory.

“I had belief in myself that I would be able to win the game for the team,” he said. Ashutosh gave credit for his growth this season to Sanjay Bangar, director of cricket development at PBKS and a former player for India.

“Sanjay sir assured me that I could play accurate cricket shots and that I am not a slogger. Although it was a brief sentence, to me it meant a great deal.

I’m not a hard-hitter; instead, I’m playing decent cricket shots, and that’s what has changed,” Ashutosh said.

“Back home, I was working with my coach Amay Khurasiya who had told me that the longer you stay on the pitch, the more your team has a chance of winning,” he said.

On April 18, 2024, during the Punjab Kings vs. Mumbai Indians IPL 2024 cricket match, Punjab Kings batter Ashutosh Sharma attempts a shot.
Ashutosh Sharma amazed us so much that our nerves were put to the test: MI captain Hardik
The right-handed hitter said the celebrations were intended for his team management as he gestured towards the PBKS dugout after reaching his fifty.

“That celebration was for our Sanjay (Bangar) sir, I have been working a lot with him and I keep asking him questions,” Ashutosh said.

He and the Punjab squad as a whole believed in me and gave me an opportunity. It was for all of them, he said, including our head coach Trevor Bayliss, Ashish (Tuli) paaji, and Shikhar (Dhawan) paaji, who all had faith in me.

Although Punjab lost their fifth game in a row and fell to ninth place in the standings, Ashutosh said his team has been performing well.

“There is winning and losing in sports. Your performance is important, and as a team, we are playing well. We will win if we play well,” he said.

Pacer Gerald Coetzee of the Mumbai Indians said that his team was nervous after Ashutosh’s incredible assault.

He really did bring it to us. All we sought was tactical clarity on what we intended to accomplish. To close it down and win the game, we bowled extremely effectively to him in the back end,” the South African bowler said.

But everyone noticed, I believe, that it was stressful. But all of it was simply talk about tactics,” he said.

Coetzee acknowledged that PBKS had effectively used the slower balls in the first half, and that Mumbai Indians might have done a better job of it.

We just took a lot away from their inning. We changed our ideas, and I believe it was successful “Coetzee said.