Ashutosh Sharma has set the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on fire, as he smashed 66 off just 31 balls to take Delhi Capitals (DC) to an incredible victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). However, the journey to the biggest stage for the 27-year-old has been far from simple. While the story of him being in depression after being dropped by Madhya Pradesh is well-documented, his Railways coach Nikhil Doru has revealed that he has made his way up despite selectors not thinking highly of him at first.
“The selectors were completely unwilling to pick him in Railways’ squad for the Ranji Trophy. They said, ‘Ashutosh doesn’t know how to bat. He can only hit big shots’,” Doru said, speaking to Times Of India.
“I kept pushing for his selection terming him a necessity considering his ability to emerge as a game-changer,” Doru revealed.
Ashutosh was left out of Madhya Pradesh’s squad near 2020, falling out of favour with the then-coach (widely regarded to be current Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Chandrakant Pandit).
While Ashutosh has since succeeded in domestic cricket for Railways, Doru revealed a dramatic incident regarding Ashutosh’s selection.
“The odds were against Ashutosh as the match was being played at Valsad where Gujarat had an edge with the conditions quite bowler-friendly. There was also some controversy around the Railways lineup for the match as two different team sheets had been presented during the toss. One included Ashutosh’s name while the other didn’t. Due to this confusion, I had to send a bowler Karn Sharma out to bat before Ashutosh when we were 135/5 during our first innings, as we had to obtain permission from the BCCI regarding Ashutosh featuring in the match,” Doru revealed.
“t took 15-20 minutes to obtain permission. I was scared during that period of time as Ashutosh wouldn’t have been able to do much in case we were eight wickets down. Before Ashutosh walked out to bat, I told Gujarat spinner Ravi Bishnoi that our batting had just started. He laughed and said, ‘What are you saying?’. Despite having only bowlers for company, Ashutosh managed to help us score 313, smashing 123 off 84 balls in a knock comprising 12 fours and eight sixes. It boosted our morale massively as we had fully expected to get bowled out for 200. We eventually won that match by 184 runs,” Doru said.
Following his heroics for Railways in domestic cricket, Ashutosh made his mark for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2024, before being bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 3.8 crore.
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