Following his selection for the Indian team for the 2018 Asian Games, Jitesh Sharma divulges Rahul Dravid’s counsel.

Jitesh Sharma, a promising Vidharbha batter and wicketkeeper, has been selected for the Indian team to compete in the Asian Games, which will begin on September 23 in Hangzhou. The 29-year-old has received recognition for his outstanding efforts in the Indian Premier League 2023. It should be noted that this is his second call-up to the Indian team after being chosen to replace Sanju Samson in the T20I series against Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Jitesh Sharma recently disclosed a chat he had with Rahul Dravid, the head coach of the Indian squad, while he was on the team.

He disclosed that the manager instructed him to keep hitting the way he has been. Dravid further disclosed that Team India is looking for guys similar to him to play a crucial role by coming in at the number five or six slot.

“Yes, I spoke with Rahul Dravid sir when I was chosen for the home team a few months ago. “Waise hi karte raho,” he said, “batting kar rahein ho.” Or, yehi dekh rahe hain to our future. Players in that position are humein aise hi chahiye. (Continue hitting the ball the way you are. For certain batting positions (Nos. 5 and 6), we are specifically searching for guys like these. Jitesh Sharma was reported by News18 as adding.

In the IPL 2023, Jitesh was notably the finisher for Punjab Kings, scoring 309 runs in 14 innings at an average of 23.76 and a strike rate of 156.06 while also recording one half-century. He has played 90 T20 matches in his career and amassed 2096 runs at an average of 29.11 with 109 and 9 fifty-pluses to his credit.

Ruturaj Gaikwad will be in charge of India at the upcoming Asian Games.

Additionally, the wicketkeeper batsman has caused 71 dismissals (57 catches and 14 stumpings). In addition to him, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Mukesh Kumar, and his Punjab Kings teammate Prabhsimran Singh have all received calls to participate in the Asian Games. India, the highest-ranked Asian team, has already advanced to the quarterfinals of the competition, and Ruturaj Gaikwad has been given the responsibility of serving as captain.

Notably, Cricket has already been played in two Asian Games iterations, those being in Guangzhou (2010) and Incheon (2014). The current champions are Sri Lanka, whereas Bangladesh took first place in the first competition. Afghanistan, however, came in second place in both seasons.