It’s not even 24 hours since his whirlwind 17-ball 31 for Punjab Kings in the steep chase vs Gujarat Titans and Ashutosh Sharma has been a busy man since his match-winning contribution. From addressing the post-match conferences to featuring in a video for the Indian Premier League’s official website to answering scores of questions that have come his way, the 25-year-old is enjoying his moment under the sun.
He was all of 10 when he packed his bags and moved base from Ratlam to Indore and for a young boy, it was very difficult to manage everything – food to clothes to other daily chores – on his own. There were days he would struggle to even put food on the plate but kept finding ways to survive “struggle waala time”.
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“It was a difficult period as I stayed away from home in Indore. My parents left me there and I struggled a lot initially. There used to be no money for food so I had no option but to do umpiring to sort meal for one time. Bahut struggle waala time tha, there was a small house where I used to live. As a ten-year-old it was difficult to manage food on your own, wash your own clothes. It was really tough but Amey Khurasiya supported me a lot when I went to Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) academy,” says Ashutosh in a select media interaction.
With proper guidance and a lot of resilience, the right-hander took giant strides in his cricketing journey and made a lot of noise in the age-group circuit. Before turning 20, he had made his List A and T20 debuts for Madhya Pradesh and continued to strengthen his case whenever he played for the state’s age-group sides.
When everything seemed to be in control, the youngster, in the middle of a good phase of his career, was surprisingly pushed out of the MP set-up.
“I started going into depression… “
Madhya Pradesh roped in Chandrakant Pandit as their head coach in 2020 and Ashutosh never got an opportunity to play for the state’s senior side again. Without taking name of the coach, the youngster opens up on the difficult period and how repeated snubs forced him into depression.
“In 2019, I scored 84 runs in my last game for Madhya Pradesh in T20. Next year, a professional coach joined the set-up who had his own liking and disliking. Mai unko pasand nahi aaya. I scored in selection matches, around 90 off just 40-45 balls and still wasn’t picked when the team was announced. I started going into depression that even after performing well, I wasn’t getting picked,” recalls Ashutosh.
The period away from action was the COVID-19 period where teams used to travel with jumbo squads – 20-25 members – but not all were allowed to be at the ground. The extras were asked to stay in the team hotel where they had nothing but gym sessions to do. For Ashutosh, that period was the lowest in his career as he hadn’t seen the ground for close to two months.
“I played U-23 also and scored two hundreds vs Delhi and Tamil Nadu respectively in four matches for the age-group team. I scored three half-centuries in the six games I played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy too. The professional coach didn’t consider me at all in the next year. COVID-19 was going on at that time and 20 players used to travel and I used to mostly stay in the team hotel.
“I stayed in the hotel for 1-2 months and was in depression. Mujhe ground dekhne ko hi nahi mil raha tha. It was just going to the gym and coming back to the room. Mai bahut pareshan ho gaya tha us time. Kept thinking what wrong I did. No one told me about my mistake if any and I was just pushed out of the set-up. Even during those times, I ensured to never leave my routine of practicing daily for 2-3 hours,” says Ashutosh.
The period tested the youngster but he didn’t give up and found a ray of hope when a position – MP reached final – in Col CK Nayudu Trophy made him eligible for a job with Railways. Not only did he get a job with them but also got to play cricket – first for the U-25 side and then for the senior team last year. In his debut season for Railways, the belligerent right-hander made instant impact as he smashed the fastest T20 fifty by an Indian.
“We played final of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy so there was a position for our team which made me eligible for a job with Railways. Railways first made me play U-25 and then gave me a chance in SMAT last year where I did well. Those 2-3 years where I didn’t get to play for MP were really bad. I couldn’t sleep for many nights and kept thinking about my journey. It was tough to come out of that but I had belief in myself that I would do, and I am still doing that,” says Ashutosh.
Even on Thursday night, when the asking rate kept rising and Punjab Kings kept losing wickets, Ashutosh kept telling to himself that “I would do, I would do” and when the opportunity came his way, the Impact Player ensured that he did!
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