Samson was ruled out of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka after suffering an injury in the series opener. Jitesh was selected as his backup wicketkeeper for his T20Is his second and his third against Sri Lanka.
In June 2014, I received a clip on WhatsApp from a friend who is as passionate about home cricket as you are. The purpose of sharing the clip was to expose substandard refereeing in domestic cricket…but the clip itself was great.
That was before select domestic cricket matches were streamed on his OTT platform. It was cut through BCCI’s proprietary six-camera setup, designed primarily to monitor referee performance.
After fact-checking and verification with the bowlers involved, Vijay Hazare in his trophy match between Uttar his Pradesh and Vidarba at his KL Saini Grounds in Jaipur in March 2014. You can check what happened.
The bowler – Piyush Chawla, who was also the UP’s captain at the time – tried pinball. Batsman-wicket keeper opener Jitesh His Sharma, who had just played his third match for List A, swayed on his back foot and pulled the ball nearly over the stumps. He had the stirrup off his leg and his leg stump was crooked. Non-striker – Faiz Fazal – claimed a single. The forward took off and he stuttered for a while as he was disappointed to have scored himself, but finished the run anyway. Fazal placed the stirrup on the stump and straightened the stump to complete the barrel.
Neither the wicket-keeper, nor the slip fielder, nor Chawla, and he did not realize that the two umpires, Milind he Patan and Navdeep he even Singh, hit the wicket he was a wicket. He chased the ball with everyone. As Chawla confirmed to Sportsstar, Jitesh was fighting back in his 20s. The partnership continued. And he scored his 100 points, setting up his 6-wicket win easily for Vidarbha in his 183 partnership in the first with Faiz.
Cut on 4 January, the same hitter – Jitesh Sharma – was called up to the India national team for the first time. When Sanju was ruled out after his Samson kneeled in the underperforming outfield in the series opener, Jitesh was selected as his second and third backup wicketkeeper for his T20Is against Sri Lanka. was Thanks to almost a decade of hard work, Jitesh is closest to realizing his ultimate dream of representing India. The Amravati boy may have drawn attention for his outstanding midfield shot as the finisher for Punjab his Kings in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League.
However, he was one of the most effective Limited he over his cricketers for Vidaba. Vidaba’s lunge failed to cement his position in the trophy side and despite being stamped as a white ball specialist, Jitesh continued to believe in himself.
When Mumbai Indians signed him for a base price of Rs. Before his Rs 100,000 in his IPL in 2016, he thought he had won the big leagues. Jitesh has been with this team for two seasons and MI may have the best team in the park, but he didn’t get the glimpse.
Over his next four seasons, he did his best to impress his IPL scouts and became a key cog in his setup for Vidarbha’s limited overs. Then there was the 2022 auction where the Punjabi Kings bought him for a base price of Rs 2 lakh.
Jitesh is unlikely to make his debut any time soon, but he totally deserves the call. One can only wonder if Chawla, an old hand, will remind him of the March 2014 incident when we next meet, perhaps at the 2023 IPL.