Punjab Kings wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma continued his poor form in the Indian Premier League 2024, getting out cheaply against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite being India's first-choice wicketkeeper before the start of this IPL season, Jitesh has struggled to replicate last year's form in the current edition of the tournament.
Jitesh has scored 71 runs in 5 matches this season and was dismissed for 19 against SRH in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Jitesh hit a four and a six while batting in the lower order as Punjab was chasing 183 runs. But while going for a big shot, he was dismissed.
The 30-year-old keeper-batsman is facing criticism on social media after he mistimed a hook shot off a slower ball from SRH all-rounder Nitish Reddy.
After Seeing the performance of jitesh Sharma so far in this IPL.
— Sarvan Gupta (@SGCRICKETZONE) April 9, 2024
unfortunately he don't capitalised his form and not seen even in contention for T20 world cup squad now . #IPL2024 #T20WorldCup2024 #T20WorldCup #pbksvssrh #SRHvsPBKS pic.twitter.com/dO56CvGGLY
Lappebaaz Jitesh Sharma with another failure even after catch drop🤣
— Prateek (@prateek_295) April 9, 2024
Forget T20I World cup WK spot
Sanju Samson & Rishabh Pant are now sure gonna be there instead of this overhyped 30 year old youngster #SRHvsPBKS #PBKSvSRH pic.twitter.com/ZeDsQWpwj5
Jitesh Sharma has turned into a ugly slogger.
— ArjuN Das (@arjun_1611) April 9, 2024
Jitesh was given the vice-captaincy of Punjab ahead of the season after his prolific performances for the Indian team, with the franchise showing faith in his leadership.
In 9 T20Is, Jitesh Sharma played crucial cameos for India. However, his place is now under threat as fellow wicketkeepers Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant have shown better form.
Punjab suffered their fourth defeat of the season as they lost by just 2 runs in a thrilling run chase against SRH.
Punjab posted 180 for 6, with Shashank Singh leading the batting with 46 off just 25 balls. Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza added 29 and 28 runs respectively, while Ashutosh Sharma remained unbeaten on 33 off 15 balls.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 2 wickets for 32 runs as the most effective bowler for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Earlier, Arshdeep Singh took 4 wickets for 29 runs to help Punjab Kings restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 182 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.
Batting first after losing the toss, Nitish Kumar Reddy top-scored for Sunrisers Hyderabad with a 37-ball 64 that included 4 boundaries and 5 sixes.