IPL 2023: He has no fear of the game – Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin lauds Jitesh Sharma

Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin has hailed in-form Jitesh Sharma as the wicket-keeper bat continues to impress in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023. Jitesh, who was promoted to number five in the batting order against Mumbai Indians, didn’t change his aggressive approach at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Wednesday.

The right-hander was once again able to get off the blocks in a jiffy, scoring an unbeaten knock of 49 runs off just 27 balls to help PBKS post an above-par score of 214 runs on the board. He added a fine alliance of 119 runs with Liam Livingstone, who scored a fantastic knock of 82 runs from only 42 balls.

Jitesh has batted with an aggressive template and has impressed with his ability to get going from the word go. The right-hander has scored 239 runs in 10 matches at an average of 26.56 this season. Most importantly, he has scored his runs at a whirlwind strike rate of 165.97 in the ongoing IPL 2023.

In fact, Jitesh has consistently added the finishing touches in the ongoing season for PBKS and has played multiple cameos, which has helped his team finish the innings on a high.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Brad Haddin said: “He’s [Jitesh] developing nicely. He has gained a lot of confidence as the tournament has gone on and that reflected in the way we used him tonight [Wednesday]. He played really well in the previous games but only faced 10 balls and tonight we wanted him to go up the order and give him the opportunity to face more balls.

“We have seen, once he goes out there, he has no fear of the game. He’s building really well. He’s starting to mature into his game. He’s one of those players who has got the unique ability to go from ball one. I think the more balls he faces is good for his development. A think we’ll see a lot more of these sort of innings.”

On the other hand, MI chased down a total of 215 runs with Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav scoring 75 and 66 runs respectively. Haddin showered praise on SKY’s knock as he took the game away from the home team with his blistering innings.

Praising Suryakumar, Haddin said: “He hits in different areas. Both batters, because of the left and right combination, complemented each other. The way he [Suryakumar] controlled the middle part of the game was outstanding. He took the game away.

“We probably didn’t execute what we needed to and allowed him to hit too many boundaries and get on a roll. His innings was pretty special.”

Punjab Kings will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.