Jitesh Sharma IPL Profile

Jitesh Sharma is an Indian cricketer, who plays for Vidarbha in domestic cricket. He was born on October 22, 1993, in Amravati, Maharashtra, India. Sharma started playing cricket at an early age and is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman.

He broke into the senior domestic team in 2013-14 following his impressive performance in the 2012–13 Cooch Behar Trophy. Notably, he scored 537 runs in 12 innings of the event with two centuries and a fifty. His List A debut for Vidarbha came on February 2014. 

The same year, Sharma played his first match in the T20 format against Uttar Pradesh. He remained a white-ball cricketer in the initial years for the side as e played only limited over matches for Vidarbha in his first two seasons, batting mainly in the top order. Sharma finally made his first-class debut on October 2015 in the 2015–16 Ranji Trophy against Odisha in Nagpur. He played in seven matches in the event and scored just 180 runs at an average of 18.

However, he remained effective in the shorter formats and achieved several achievements. He became the third-highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2015–16 with 343 runs at a strike rate of 143.51, including one century and two fifties. Also, he was the leading run-scorer for Vidarbha in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 298 runs in seven matches.

Impressed with Jitesh's attacking approach in domestic cricket, Mumbai Indians included the player in their squad as the franchise bought him at his base price of Rs 10 lakhs in 2016 but only warmed the bench during his stint with the five-time champions. Jitesh eventually played his first IPL match in 2022 after Punjab Kings bought him at his base price. He made his international debut in the T20I format during the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, where the Men in Blue won a gold medal.

Jitesh played 26 games for PBKS in his first two seasons, playing the role of lower-order finisher initially as the batter's high strike-rate of 150-plus came in handy. The batter was later promoted to opening position too as PBKS struggled to find an opening partner for Shikhar Dhawan. He was appointed PBKS vice-captain for the IPL 2024 season.