![\"ashok-had-two-different-stints-at-rr-as-net-bowler-and-one-season-at-kkr-on-the-bench-before-debuting-for-gt-in-the-ipl\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ashok-had-two-different-stints-at-rr-as-net-bowler-and-one-season-at-kkr-on-the-bench-before-debutin.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nWhen Ashok Sharma was a teenager, his father left him and his brother with the sort of decision that no family wants to face.<\/p>\n
Ashok is five years younger than Akshay and grew up watching his elder brother in inter-school competitions. Whenever Akshay left the house to play, a young Ashok would grumble and complain to his parents. By age 12, he had joined his brother in the school team.<\/p>\n
Both bowled pace, both shared the same dream, but as they became serious with the seasoned ball, the family\u2019s struggling finances only allowed one of them to go ahead. Their father, a driver for a vernacular publication, would run the family by delivering newspapers at night. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t had much education,\u201d Akshay tells Cricbuzz. \u201cHe asked us to decide and said he would be okay with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After some consideration, it was Akshay who decided to quit his dream, pushing Ashok to take part in the inter-district U16 trials. \u201cHe was younger, had a better chance,\u201d Akshay says. \u201cI don\u2019t have any regrets. What I did was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, he works as a local coach without any particular affiliation, helping where needed, and his younger brother is the latest fast bowler to be capped by India. Ashok\u2019s selection in Harare marks another significant moment for a bowler who was virtually unknown when he clocked 154.2kph with one of his deliveries for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026.<\/p>\n
Since then he has gone to Dambulla, debuting for the India A team, and been picked for the senior team\u2019s series in Zimbabwe. Back in Rampura, on the outskirts of Jaipur, there\u2019s still a sense of disbelief in the Sharma household. \u201cAisa lagta hai hum log khuli aankhon se sapna dekh rahe hain, (It\u2019s like we are dreaming with open eyes)\u201d Akshay says. \u201cForget IPL, we could never even think of (getting into the) state team. Even to play district-level, we had to plead to so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such pleas were nothing in comparison to the sacrifices that the family made along the way, each one giving Ashok a crucial opening.<\/p>\n
At the U16 trial that Ashok attended after his brother had given up his own career, he was introduced to the man who would turn his fortunes. Vivek Yadav, a two-time Ranji Trophy winner with Rajasthan, saw something in the tall, wiry boy. The speed was hard to miss. He convinced Ashok to enroll in his coaching centre: the Aravalli Cricket Academy.<\/p>\n
To cover the distance of 45kms every day, Akshay would himself drop his brother on a motorbike. Eventually, Vivek decided to house Ashok at the academy free of cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family\u2019s financial condition was not good,\u201d Jagsimran Singh, Ashok\u2019s coach at Aravalli, recalls. \u201cHis brother would come visit every week, bringing something along from the house. But they couldn\u2019t bear the expenses of two days straight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blessed with raw pace, Ashok found special attention from Jagsimran, who spent the next year and a half patching his basics. There was a heavy sway of tennis-ball cricket in his delivery. Ashok would bowl fast with a short run-up, without a real hold on accuracy. For the tall boy, it was hard to rein in the swing of the leather ball. Piece-by-piece, he put Ashok together.<\/p>\n
Now fast and compact, Ashok was picked for the Rajasthan U19 team, but that\u2019s where the first setback came. After enduring a poor outing on his debut, he was dropped from the squad after three games. Players from his batch moved ahead, and the snub singed Ashok.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am ready to do whatever you tell me,\u201d he told Jagsmiran, and the work continued.<\/p>\n
If Ashok were to bowl fast consistently, just being tall wasn\u2019t enough. Speed was not to be compromised: Jagsimran had to maximise his physical potential, and turn him into an infrangible unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked on his body structure and built muscle mass to improve the hypertrophy of his muscles,\u201d Jagsimran recalls. \u201cIf the size (of his muscles) increases, his contraction would increase and when it is released, he would be able to generate more power.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked on his entire structure: chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps, as well as gluteus muscles. When he played U19, he was very lean. By 2022, he had altered his body structure completely. He looked like a total athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
His training was accentuated by a clean, home-inspired diet. Ashok is a vegetarian, and only really got around to understanding protein portions during the IPL.<\/p>\n
His fellow Rajasthan seamer, Danish Bhambhu, vouches for his diet control. \u201cFor the last three-four years, I have not seen him consume sugar one bit, aside from natural sugar. Even if you give him sugared tea, he will refuse to take it. Last year, when he was selected for the IPL, he would refuse anyone who came to offer sweets. Not even one bit. It was his turning point, really. He wouldn\u2019t skip training, even for a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ashok became faster, he also developed more control over his bowling at Aravalli. \u201cHe would hit hard lengths,\u201d Jagsimran says. \u201cEveryone would tell him: \u2018bowl fuller, you can\u2019t be successful from this length.\u2019 But I told him bowling fuller could only increase the chances of getting hit. It\u2019s hard to score off a hard length on the body. The focus was more on giving as little width as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ashok had two different stints at RR as net bowler and one season at KKR on the bench before debuting for GT in the IPL. \u00a9BCCI\/IPL<\/p>\n
Jagsimran recalls a club match in 2022 that told him he was finally ready. \u201cIt was a dead wicket, and suddenly his ball started flying off the front of the pitch,\u201d Jagsimran says. \u201cThe keeper was standing at 30 yards and was still jumping to grab the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grind did not translate into a breakthrough. Ashok stagnated after his brush with U19 cricket, and did not get any chances at the U23 level either. The long wait across three years nearly took the fire out of him. \u2018I want to leave cricket,\u2019 he told Akshay at one point. \u2018Let\u2019s see if I can do something else instead.\u2019<\/p>\n
A timely lifeline came in the form of the Red Bull Speedster competition in 2021. Designed to unearth fast bowlers from India\u2019s corners, it paved the way for trials with the Rajasthan Royals, and subsequently a role as a net bowler.<\/p>\n
For the Aravalli academy, it marked yet another IPL link, vindicating Vivek\u2019s decision to pick and nurture the kid. \u201cVivek bhaiya was like an angel to us,\u201d says Akshay. As fate would have it, the day Ashok came back home from his stint with the Royals, news broke that Vivek had passed away at 36 due to Covid-related complications. \u201cIt was a very difficult time,\u201d Akshay recalls wistfully.<\/p>\n
Dealing with the setback, Ashok still hoped for a big breakthrough to come his way. The Royals had given Ashok his first nibble of the IPL, but that was it.<\/p>\n
The following year, Kolkata Knight Riders gave him his first IPL contract. But he was benched through the season, and released right after. RR picked him up as a nets bowler again. Akshay recalls how Ashok felt \u201chopeless\u201d at the lack of progress, complaining how he would just be picked and benched for a newer face to get a go-ahead. Those around urged him to wait for his moment.<\/p>\n
When Rajasthan finally gave him a senior debut, Ashok grabbed the chance with both hands. He finished his debut Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as the top-wicket taker in the country.<\/p>\n
For three years Ashok had paid his dues, failing to make it to the senior team, and not getting a single IPL game. But Jagsimran puts his SMAT success down to a post-2022 spurt in pace. It was the culmination of all the background work leading up to his debut season.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one can be perfect, but we tried to make his biomechanics as close to perfect as possible,\u201d Jagsimran says. \u201cWe fixed his back-foot landing, but even his front foot used to open outwards. He was an open-chested bowler, but it would open out and cause him side strains. We worked on making the back foot parallel to the landing. The force should be targeted towards the finish of the action. While releasing, the head should not fall past the vertical body.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been bowling this fast for the last few years,\u201d Bhambhu says. \u201cIt\u2019s only getting highlighted this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his obsession with pace, Ashok realises he can\u2019t be a one-trick pony. Before IPL 2026, he worked particularly hard on improving his yorkers and slower balls.<\/p>\n
![\"he-has-been-bowling-this-fast-for-the-last-few-years-its-only-getting-highlighted-this-year\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/he-has-been-bowling-this-fast-for-the-last-few-years-its-only-getting-highlighted-this-year.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been bowling this fast for the last few years. It\u2019s only getting highlighted this year.\u201d \u00a9BCCI\/IPL<\/p>\n
In fact, his first IPL wicket of Marco Jansen came from a back-of-the-hand slower ball, delivered at a crucial juncture of the game. He played just six matches in the IPL season, but was decently effective at the death, claiming five wickets between overs 16-20 at a strike-rate of 9.60 with a dot-ball percentage of nearly 40.<\/p>\n
Aashish Kapoor, assistant coach at GT, tells that Ashok \u2013 still young and raw – was initially supposed to serve as a backup to an already established lineup of Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, alongside secondary options Ishant Sharma and Arshad Khan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut (head coach Ashish) Nehra saw something and we all saw something that we made him play from the start,\u201d says Kapoor. \u201cHe became one of our four (main) bowler\u201d. Ashok got six games, before GT restructured their lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were stages where he was supposed to do something but couldn\u2019t. (But that\u2019s only) Now. He will learn,” Kapoor adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis back-of-the-hand variation is natural,\u201d says Akshay. \u201cHe is learning cutters now. But he insists he will surprise batters with what he has naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elder brother dreams of a Test cap for Ashok, whose need for speed is real – he has promised his coach to breach the 160-mark one day. \u201cEven those who bowl fast reach only 135-140 kph. But he touches 155,\u201d says Jagsimran.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, he has clocked 154. I feel if he plays two-three more tours with India, and gets more chances to play, he will become the fastest bowler of India.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will touch 160. I have utmost belief in him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ashok Sharma was a teenager, his father left him and his brother with the sort of decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[148601,299888,64,63,740,165536,1209,394391,85],"class_list":["post-819422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-1st-t20i","tag-ashok-sharma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-gujarat-titans","tag-india","tag-india-tour-of-zimbabwe-2026","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}