For the Vidarbha and Punjab Kings batter, his father was a major motivation behind him to start playing cricket.
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For the Vidarba and Punjab Kings batter, Jitesh Sharma, who is still on the way to make a name for himself through his finishing prowess in the IPL, his father has been his biggest motivation.
Sharma was always close to his father and saw his emotional side every time he watched a cricket match or participated in a local tennis ball tournament. Those moments were enough to trigger his approach towards the sport as he chose to pursue a career as a cricket player.
“My father used to play a lot of cricket and take part in tennis tournaments as well and I used to attend many prize distributions with him. He was a businessman but was always emotionally controlled. Whenever he watched cricket, he was emotionally happy and excited. That’s when I realised if he could see me play cricket, he would be excited like this. My journey started from there and that’s when I thought I could start playing cricket,” he said.
“After the match, when I saw my father’s missed call, I called him back even though I was hesitant to call because he has a strict routine. He usually sleeps by 10 pm, but this time, when I called him around 12:30-1 am, he was awake,” the youngster said.
“He was waiting for me to call back. He was so happy that he just told me, ‘Well done, beta!’ Because when my dad uses only two-three words, I know he’s on cloud nine,” he said.
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Sharma gave a fair account of his batting prowess through his knocks in the IPL 2022 — 26 (17 balls) against CSK on debut, 23 (11 balls) vs Gujarat Titans and 30 (15 balls) while playing against Mumbai Indians — but his journey to the lucrative tournament has been nothing short of challenging.
Sharma found himself in a difficult situation after not being retained by his state team in 2017 which only brought forward his strong character as he changed his approach towards the game.
“The journey of my career has been like the journey of a person trekking a mountain because. Till 2017, I felt like I was at the peak of the mountain. It doesn’t take too long to fall from there and I had a drop like that in 2017 where I found it very difficult to be in the state team as well,” Sharma said.
“After that, I only focused on taking one step at a time and when I played my first game, I recalled everything that day from my past when I was sitting in the dugout. From where I’ve come, my struggles, all my sacrifices for this moment and all the people who have supported me. I don’t want to disappoint anyone, even myself,” said the 28-year-old.
