Jitesh Sharma Cricketer: Here is all you need to know about India’s newest wicketkeeping prospect

Jitesh Sharma Cricketer: Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma is the new bloke in the town. Having played all his cricket for Vidarbha in both junior & senior phase, Jitesh was a surprise pick for Sri Lanka tour of India in January 2023 when he got called up to join the dressing room after Sanju Samson got injured.

Sanju Samson was among those cricketers who was supposed to get a long run in 2023, especially after spending most of the 2022 on the bench in Indian colors. However, a knee injury right in the first T20I against Sri Lanka on 3 January 2023, Sanju was declared unfit for the remaining two games. Sanju’s injury opened the doors for the 29-year-old Vidarbha batter who is also a representative of Punjab Kings in the IPL.

Jitesh Sharma IPL

Born in Amravati, Maharashtra, Jitesh played all his domestic cricket for Vidarbha. His breakout year although came in 2022 when he got his first taste of IPL playing for Punjab Kings. Jitesh is an explosive batter who is capable of batting at any down. He represented Punjab Kings in 12 matches in the IPL 2022 and played 10 innings scoring 234 runs at a fabulous strike-rate of 163.64.

Punjab Kings batters are renowned for their pyrotechnics and Jitesh Sharma was no different. His heavy hitting abilities helped him feature in not 1 or 2 but 12 matches for Punjab Kings in IPL 2022 and was also retained by the franchise for the 2023 edition.

Jitesh Sharma stats

The 29-year-old has represented Vidarbha across formats, i.e., First Class, List A, and T20s. Below are the numbers of Jitesh Sharma cricketer.

With an ever so competitive environment in the Indian squad, it would be interesting to see if Jitesh Sharma could be looked upon as a wicketkeeping option in India’s future assignments, and especially in the 2024 T20 World Cup.