IPL 2025: Jitesh Sharma reveals how pursuit of extra four percent in 10th grade led to his life in cricket
New Delhi(The Uttam Hindu): Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Sharma was pursuing a life in the forces and perhaps he would have succeeded had it not been for his attempts to secure an extra four percent in 10th standard. In Maharashtra, extra marks are awarded to students excelling in sports and Jitesh, along with his friends, decided to go for the trials where his life changed completely. “I was in 10th standard that year. I wanted to go for NDA. I was interested in the Air Force and Defence. In Maharashtra, if you represent in 10th or 12th standard, you get 25 marks, 4 percent extra.
“One day, my friend said, ‘Let’s do a cricket trial. We’ll get 4 percent extra.’ I said, okay. We went there and they were writing names on the register — who is a batsman, who is a bowler. The one with the least number of names was ‘wicketkeeper.’ “We were three friends, all three of us wrote down ‘wicketkeeper.’ That’s how it started,” revealed Jitesh on an episode of ‘Bold Diaries.’ He made his international debut at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou and has, thus far, played nine T20Is for India, scoring 100 runs with a best of 35. The 31-year-old also talked about the feeling of being the first player from Amravati to represent the country.
“It's a good feeling. You can't express it. I think I can tell the juniors that whatever pain you're going through, it's worth it. You can struggle. It's worth the struggle to wear that jersey. I feel the responsibility. Because I think I am the first boy who played for India from Amravati. So when I go, I give the same belief to people that if I can do it, someone else can do it.” Jitesh made his debut for the Punjab Kings in 2022, after being purchased for his base price of Rs 20 Lakhs and developed a role as a finisher and scored 730 runs across the next three seasons. RCB acquired his services for a whopping Rs 12 crore during the mega auctions. Jitesh dwelled on his role and the difficulties that come with it.
“Now everyone seems to be a finisher. But it's a difficult job to bat at number 6, number 7. Because ever since I started finishing, I haven’t scored a fifty. I was an opener. Earlier I used to score fifties and centuries. So, I used to enjoy raising my bat when I reached a milestone. Ever since I became a finisher, I never got a chance to make a 50. 10 balls, 30 runs. 20 balls, 40 runs. These score have become 50 for us. If you do 60–70 in 30 balls, it’s like a 100. And I am happy, very happy doing, if the team wins,” he added.
