Ashutosh Sharma

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ashutosh Sharma

• His father, Ram Babu Sharma, is an emplyee at a government hospital in Ratlam. Ram Babu motivated Ashutosh Sharma to join the Railways Cricket Club academy. As Sharma got better and played under-14 and under-16 cricket for his district, he shifted to Indore with the help of former India cricketer ‘Amay Khurasiya’ in 2016.

  

• According to Ashutosh, when he left home, he didn’t have enough money, and he would do umpiring in matches to afford lunch.

• While growing up in Ratlam, he idolised local cricketer Namam Ojha. He would also admire Suryakumar Yadav.

• In 2016, he made his debut for the Madhya Pradesh under-19 cricket team.

  

• In an interview, he revealed that while playing Under-19 cricket, he once punished himself by doing all household chores without any help as he thought it would bring discipline. He said that after doing so for a month, he scored a century and developed an interest in cooking that became one of his favourite hobbies.

• Ashutosh Sharma then played in the Twenty20 match for Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association in the 2017-18 Zonal T20 League on 12 January 2018. His List A debut was on 16 October 2019, representing Madhya Pradesh in the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

  

• In 2020, Chandrakant Pandit became the head coach of the MP team. According to Ashutosh, Pandit didn’t like him, and Ashutosh was dropped from the 2020 Mushtaq Ali tournament despite scoring three half-centuries in the tournament a season before.

• After not getting selected for the 2020 Mushtaq Ali tournament, Ashutosh fell into depression.

• Thereafter, he joined Indian Railways as a junior clerk in 2022 and moved to Bhopal. He then participated in the Colonel CK Nayudu Trophy during the same year. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Manipur, Sharma did not get a chance to bat. However, later, he played well against Arunachal cricket team.

• In October 2023, he became famous for breaking a record held by former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh. He made the fastest fifty by an Indian batter in T20s, breaking a record for 16 years. Ashutosh Sharma participated in a Group C match during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches held in Ranchi, India, and hit a half-century in eleven balls against the Arunachal Pradesh cricket team.

  

• In the 2024 IPl auction, he was bought by Punjab Kings and played a crucial role as an impact player during a match against Gujarat Titans on 4 April 2024 in which he scored 31 runs off 17 balls.

• After getting selected for the Punjab Kings squad, he started training under Sanjay Bangar. He first met Bangar during an IPL match when he was a ball boy and Bangar was a part of the now-defunct Kochi franchise.

  

• Ashutosh Sharma is a fitness enthusiast. He does physical exercises daily and often shares pictures of his gym sessions on social media.

  

• In his free time, he likes travelling to distant places, dancing, and swimming.