New Delhi, March 28 A standout aspect of Ashutosh Sharma’s whirlwind 66 not out off 31 balls helping Delhi Capitals to clinch a nail-biting one-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants earlier this week was him effectively amassing big runs against spinners.
Now, the all-rounder has revealed that before IPL 2025, he had practised for hitting every ball against spinners in separate net sessions, something which paid off immensely in DC kickstarting their tournament with a win at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
With DC slumping to 65/5 in the seventh over, Ashutosh walked in and was at 20 off 20 balls before switching gears to hit a whopping 46 runs off his next 11 balls and lead his team to an epic win. 32 of those 66 runs came against spinners off just 15 balls and at a strike-rate of 213.3.
This stands in stark contrast to his record of 16 runs off 21 balls against spinners in IPL 2024, where Ashutosh was turning out for Punjab Kings. Those runs had come at a strike-rate of 76.2, as Ashutosh was dismissed twice by the spinners last year. But this time, he was all ready for smashing leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi for two fours and as many sixes, as well as hitting a boundary and six off Digvesh Singh Rathi and Shahbaz Ahmed respectively.
“I played a lot against the spinners in nets, as I really like doing batting for a long period of time. So, whenever I get a chance in the nets, I like to bat for as long as possible. For facing spinners, I really like practising against them separately and the endeavour was that I just want to hit every ball coming my way.”
“It’s because in the match, when I bat in situations like that (against LSG), I just have to hit every ball. So, while doing that in practice, your perfection increases and then you instantly hit at the deliveries which are in your slot in a game. So, with the muscle memory firmly there, I just worked like that against spinners,” said Ashutosh to IANS during the JioStar - Delhi Capitals Press Room show on Friday.
When DC take the field for their clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Visakhapatnam on Sunday, all eyes will again be on Ashutosh to continue his big-hitting spree with a calm, strong and fearless mindset. The all-rounder again stressed on how hardwork has helped him get success in IPL so far.
“No, it's nothing like that (if physical attributes have helped his power-hitting). It's about how hard you work to play that ball well. When you're in the match, in the practice session, what kind of hard work do you do? And how many shots do you take on that ball? So, there are a lot of things. But hard work is the main thing for those shots.”
After finishing off the chase against LSG, Ashutosh had unveiled a switch-hit like celebration, a shot which current DC mentor Kevin Pietersen made famous during his playing days. The all-rounder signed off by saying he wanted to dedicate that celebration towards Pietersen as he instilled tons of belief in him to complete the chase successfully.
“In that match, I was talking to KP. He said ‘there’s still a lot of time left. Just play your game, just express yourself, believe in yourself and that's it’. I felt that he is trusting me and having that much belief in me. So, I thought let's finish this game and celebrate like KP. So, I just wanted to dedicate that celebration to him because he is a legend.”
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