Gujarat Titans handed a debut to Rajasthan pacer Ashok Sharma, who made a direct affect by clocking 149.7 kmph with the very first ball he bowled against Punjab Kings on March 31.
Who is Ashok Sharma, the most recent GT debutant towards PBKS?
The 23-year-old was picked up by the Gujarat Titans for INR 90 lakh on the IPL 2026 public sale, marking his third franchise within the league. He was earlier signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 55 lakh in 2022 and later joined the Rajasthan Royals for INR 30 lakh in 2025. Despite being a part of a number of squads, Sharma needed to wait till this season for his IPL debut, which follows a string of spectacular performances in home cricket.
An out-and-out quick bowler, Sharma made his skilled debut solely in October 2025. Playing for Rajasthan towards Jammu and Kashmir within the Ranji Trophy, he picked up three wickets in the one innings he bowled and completed the season with 14 wickets from 4 matches. His List A debut, towards Madhya Pradesh, was much less fruitful as he went wicketless, however it was within the T20 format that he started to ascertain himself.
Having beforehand served as a web bowler for Rajasthan Royals in 2024, Sharma’s breakthrough got here within the Rajasthan Premier League, the place he claimed eight wickets at a mean of twenty-two.25 and an economic system fee of seven.12 in 2023. On his T20 debut towards Tamil Nadu final November, he picked up three wickets. Although he conceded 40 runs, the efficiency set the tone for what adopted.
Nine matches later, he had 22 wickets at a mean of 15.63, the joint-most by any bowler in a single season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He registered two four-wicket hauls, together with his pronounced outswing and an motion harking back to Dale Steyn – whom he intently studied. His rise additionally earned him a spot within the India A squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup warm-up fixtures towards the USA and Namibia, the place he returned figures of 1 for twenty-four and a couple of for 8, respectively.
Ashok Sharma’s IPL debut
Introduced because the first-change bowler, Sharma started with a putting supply – a size ball on center stump clocked at 149.7 kmph. He began with two dot balls however conceded a six and a 4 later within the over, whereas persistently working within the high-140s. His second over proved costly as effectively, conceding two sixes. After two overs, he had conceded 26 runs.
However, the decisive second got here within the 18th over, with Punjab needing 21 runs to win. Sharma conceded simply two runs off the primary three deliveries earlier than dismissing Marco Jansen with a slower ball at 109 kmph. He adopted it up with a 149 kmph supply to new batter Xavier Bartlett and completed the over by conceding solely 5 runs, bringing Gujarat Titans again into competition. GT, nonetheless, misplaced the shut recreation ultimately.
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