'In the last 18 months how he has performed in domestic and IPL, that is...' - Ex-India selector bats for Jitesh Sharma to play for India

The Maharashtra-born star wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma has impressed with the bat while batting in the middle-order for the Punjab Kings in the ongoing edition of the IPL 2023. He has scored 239 runs in 10 innings of the 10 matches he played so far in the tournament with an impressive strike rate of 165.97.

Recently, the former chief selector of India and currently the bowling coach of Punjab Kings, Sunil Joshi lavished praise on Jitesh Sharma. He went on to say that the latter is one of the finest wicketkeeper-batters in India in the current times.

Notably, Sharma was earlier picked in the India squad for the last two T20I series but the management didn’t pick him up in the playing XI of the team. Apart from that, the right-handed batter is continuously impressing the cricket fans and experts for the game with his performance in the domestic circuit followed by the current season of IPL.

“Jitesh has been wonderful. It shows his quality and is one of the reasons he was picked for the Indian team in place of Sanju Samson. In the last 18 months how he has performed in domestic and IPL and that is the reason he is ahead of some other wicketkeeper,” said Joshi while opining about Jitesh Sharma and comparing him to other active wicketkeeper-batters in India.

Now, Jitesh will be in action with the Punjab Kings in their next match against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 53^rd match of the Indian Premier League 2023.

Here’s a look at the squad of Punjab Kings for the Indian Premier League 2023:

Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shahrukh Khan, Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Gurnoor Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Baltej Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, and Mohit Rathee.