Jitesh Sharma’s game-winning 85* off 33 deliveries for Royal Challengers Bengaluru was praised by Tom Moody as the best knock of the Indian Premier League this year. The former Australia all-rounder praised the stand-in RCB captain’s outstanding performance against the Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on Tuesday, May 27, referring to those innings as the “innings of the season” in an interview with ESPNcricinfo Time Out.
Legend Virat Kohli was out in the 12th over following his brilliant 54 off 30 deliveries, leaving RCB staring down the barrel at 123/4 as they chased a massive goal of 228. However, Jitesh’s entrance gave his squad new optimism for winning and qualifying for the top two. The wicketkeeper-batter hit eight fours and six sixes in a crucial partnership with Mayank Agarwal (41*) to help RCB defeat the hosts’ enormous 227/3 in the final over, the most vicious onslaught on the unreliable Super Giants attack.
“In my opinion, the innings is by far the best of the IPL this season. We’ve seen some amazing knocks from both young and elderly, but this one is just amazing. Following Jitesh’s outstanding performance, which put RCB in second position, Moody said that a Qualifier 1 matchup versus Punjab Kings was scheduled for Thursday, May 29.
“With their backs to the wall and Kohli and [Phil] Salt in the sheds, the team was completely against it.” He disregarded the considerable headwind and proceeded to dissect the game. In addition to dissecting the game, he played shrewdly; his approach gave the impression that he had done it many times before.
In the first half, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant scored a memorable century, but Jitesh overshadowed it. In the crucial match, when a loss may have put his team’s hopes of winning their first IPL title in jeopardy and forced them to play the Eliminator in jeopardy, the RCB skipper stepped up to the plate. However, the victory brought them one step closer to the desired trophy. With 237 runs at an incredible strike rate of 171.73, Jitesh has been an underappreciated component of RCB’s current dominating force. Due to injuries to RCB’s previous captain, Rajat Patidar, the 31-year-old was named captain.
