"He was never desperate to play for India" - Dinesh Karthik reveals how he brought the best out of Jitesh Sharma

Jitesh Sharma won IPL 2025 with RCB.

Jitesh Sharma, the wicketkeeper batsman, was never keen to play for India, according to former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik. Due to his outstanding efforts with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during their successful Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign, Jitesh has returned to the Indian squad.

He repeatedly provided his team with the ideal innings end by playing several vital strokes later down the order. Jitesh was never overly eager to play for India, according to Dinesh Karthik, but his performance suffered as soon as he realised he was being benched following his outstanding exploits for the Punjab Kings.

“He was never desperate to play for India. And he was very free, and he went about playing very confidently for the Punjab Kings and then made it to the Indian team. And then he knew that he was on the fringes. That’s when he became desperate. That kind of filtered into his performances,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Jitesh last played for India in January 2024 against Afghanistan and has scored 100 runs from seven T20Is so far.

Needed to unlock it: Dinesh Karthik on working with Jitesh Sharma in RCB

Jitesh Sharma was let go by the Punjab Kings (PBKS) ahead of the IPL 2025, and the RCB picked him up in the mega auction. Jitesh was given the role of finisher in the tournament and made 261 runs in 15 games with a strike rate of 176.35.

His best knock in the IPL 2025 was 85*, which came against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), helping RCB chase down 228 in just 18.4 overs and finish in the top two of the points table.

“What he wanted to work on was, how do I finish a game? How do I get the team to be above par? So he was playing a lot of cameos, never knowing how to get that big inning that was required to win a game or take the team far in the first inning. I kind of know what it takes to do that. With the skills he had, there was so much potential that I just needed to unlock it,” he added.

Jitesh Sharma was included in the Indian squad for the 2025 Asia Cup, but he’ll have to fight for a spot in the XI with Sanju Samson.

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