Rahul Tiwari
khelja|20-11-2024
The countdown for the mega auction of IPL 2025 has started, for which RCB has started finalizing its preparations. His process of taking trials of players before the auction is continuing. The player whose trial is in the news at the moment is Ashutosh Sharma, who plays for Punjab Kings in IPL 2024. The real objective of RCB behind taking the trial of this 26 year old player is to end the search for a match finisher. Ashutosh made his IPL debut last season and finished many matches for Preity Zinta's Punjab Kings.
Punjab Kings did not retain Ashutosh Sharma for IPL 2025. After not being retained by Punjab Kings, now when Ashutosh has got a call from RCB for the trial, it means that Virat's team has set its eyes on him and they can bet on him in the mega auction.
RCB held trials for young and domestic cricketers before the auction. This also includes those players who have previously played for other franchises. Before Ashutosh Sharma of Punjab Kings, Angkrish Raghuvanshi of Kolkata Knight Riders has also given his trial.
Ashutosh Sharma, who played IPL as a batting all-rounder, had written a great script for his strong performance in IPL 2024. He made his IPL debut last season and played 11 matches for Punjab Kings, scoring 189 runs in 9 innings with 15 sixes and a strike rate of 167.25. During this period he scored 2 half-centuries.
Ashutosh Sharma is a resident of Madhya Pradesh and he also plays domestic cricket from there. He made his T20 debut for Madhya Pradesh in 2017-18. In October 2023, Ashutosh became the Indian to score the fastest half-century in T20 cricket. He did this feat in just 11 balls.
Ashutosh's amazing effect was such that Punjab Kings bought him for IPL 2024 for Rs 20 lakh. He played his first IPL match against Gujarat Titans on 4 April 2024, in which he scored 31 runs in just 17 balls. In the match against MI in IPL 2024, Ashutosh also played a explosive inning of 61 runs in just 28 balls.