Former India opener Virender Sehwag has picked a young star from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) who according to the veteran cricketer will be soon playing for Team India in the shortest format.
Notably, IPL is widely recognized as a prestigious event that brings together the world’s most celebrated cricketers under one roof. Moreover, it has consistently served as an important stage for the young budding cricketers to exhibit their skills, offering them the opportunity to rub shoulders with the best in the business and receive guidance from world-class coaches.
Many players, who are nothing but superstars of the Indian team, have made their way from the cash-rich league such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav. Meanwhile, Sehwag has named another star in making whom he termed as the ‘watch out player’ and predicted that he will represent Team India soon.
The former India skipper picked Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Jitesh Sharma as his choice after the latter’s impressive batting display in the 46th match of IPL 2023 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Mohali.
PBKS were struggling with 95/3 in 12 overs of their innings before Liam Livingstone and Jitesh turned the tables with their counterattack. Livingstone remained unbeaten on 82 runs off 42 balls, Jitesh, the young wicketkeeper, went undefeated on 49 runs from 27 deliveries as the duo added 119 runs in just 53 balls for the fourth wicket.
“I always tell kids, just see the ball and do whatever you think you can with it, hit it, leave it or block it. Those are the simple basics of batting and that is what Jitesh Sharma was doing. He was looking at the ball and if it was hittable he was going for it or taking a single. In this format you can’t leave a delivery. He was keeping it quite simple,” said Sehwag as quoted by Hindustan Times.
“The wicket was great and the bowling wasn’t that great. But even then, you have to make those runs. Today if I go to play with under 13 kids, I may not make runs. I will have to work like them to make runs. That is what Jitesh Sharma has done here, even though the bowling was weak, he worked for those runs. Shot selection was great. I have said this earlier as well, Jitesh Sharma is a watch out player, maybe in the next one year we will get to see him playing for India,” added Sehwag.
