Ashutosh Sharma is playing for Hampshire in his maiden One-Day Cup stint and has been sensational with the ball so far.
Ashutosh burst into the spotlight first in 2023 for his exploits with the bat, breaking Yuvraj Singh’s record for the fastest T20 fifty by an Indian. That knock helped him gain an IPL contract with Punjab Kings, where he finished with a strike rate of 167.25. He has been with the Delhi Capitals for the last two seasons, performing his finisher’s role particularly well, having amassed 275 runs in 17 innings at a strike rate of nearly 170.
He is now making a case to be considered an all-rounder as well, while playing for Hampshire in his maiden One-Day Cup stint. While his major role would’ve been to tonk the ball down the order in the death overs, the 27-year-old has turned heads with his medium pace bowling so far in two matches.
After accounting for three wickets on his One-Day Cup debut against Yorkshire, Ashutosh continued in the same vein, picking up four scalps today against Middlesex. He broke the century opening stand in the 22nd over, dismissing Nathan Fernandes for 45, before returning to bowl in the death overs, picking up the last three of the last four wickets that fell.
He ended the innings with the figures of 4-54 in nine overs, as Hampshire restricted Middlesex to 284-8 in 50 overs. In the previous game against Yorkshire too, Ashutosh had delivered nine overs and conceded only 48 runs.
Interestingly, Ashutosh had picked only two wickets in 22 overs across four innings in List A cricket before shining in the One-Day Cup. He has never bowled in his 32-match IPL career either but has rolled his arms in five T20 innings, picking up four wickets so far.
Before signing up for Hampshire, Ashutosh also shone with the ball in the 2026 Madhya Pradesh League T20, where he led Malwa Stallions. He picked up seven wickets in eight innings, the joint-highest wicket-taker for his team.
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