Good things come to those who wait. It sure did for young Ashutosh Sharma, who rose to the occasion and came to Punjab’s rescue, alongside Shashank Singh, and led them to a memorable 3-wicket win over the Gujarat Titans on Thursday.
GT started strong as with the help of quickfire cameos, especially from the likes of Sai Sudharsan, who chipped in with a blazing 33 from just 19 balls, and Rahul Tewatia at the end, skipper Shubman Gill helped set up his team’s challenging total of 199 runs.
After a debilitating start, and a collapse of quick wickets, Ashutosh came into the crease at 150-6, with Punjab needing 50 more runs to win in less than 5 overs.
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The hard-hitter, who was reputed for his explosive strike rate of 198 in T20s, was brought in as the Impact Player in the place of Arshdeep Singh, as a last hope with the bat.
The 25-year-old would pay the faith back in spades as he would go on to ravage through the GT bowling ranks and post a quickfire 30 runs in just 17 balls, peppered with 3 fours and a six, setting Shashank Singh up for success.
After the match, An elated Ashutosh exclaimed on all those who had shown faith in him and provided him with the opportunity to showcase his talents in the biggest stage.
“I would like to thank the PBKS team for believing in me so much. Feels so good to perform and more importantly the team won, so I am happy about it,” stated Ashutosh.
He also highlighted the faith that his skipper Shikhar Dhawan showed in him in the dire situation, to go in and clinch the win for his team in some fashion.
“Shikhar paaji believed in me so much. I was normal and kept believing that I can do it,” excalimed the hard-hitter.
‘To Sanjay sir I will thank him so much and he believed in me. He told me a lot of good things. I was normal and believed that I can do it because I have won games for my home team. Back home I was training with Amay Khurasiya sir. He told me when you get a chance you will become a hero.”
Ashutosh and Shashank Singh combined for an explosive partnership of 43 runs in just 23 balls, which ultimately set Punjab up for a dramatic win, with one ball remaining.
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