KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit attempted to end the career of Ashutosh Sharma of Punjab Kings

Handrakant Pandit, who leads the coaching staff of Kolkata Knight Riders, has been involved in controversy before. Former KKR player David Weise accused him of being too hard on experienced overseas players and even called him a militant coach. Weise accused the head coach of playing a significant role in KKR's failure. Recently, an old interview with Ashutosh Sharma, the new batting sensation of Punjab Kings, about Pandit has gone viral.

Ashutosh scored 31 runs off 17 balls and, together with Shashank Singh, formed a match-winning partnership to secure Punjab's comeback victory over Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024. He played well, and his skills were praised by Shikhar Dhawan, Irfan Pathan, and Sanjay Manjrekar.

Ashutosh broke Yuvraj Singh's record for the fastest fifty in the T20 format while playing for Railways in domestic cricket. He completed his half-century in just 11 balls, one ball less than Yuvraj. The 25-year-old scored against Arunachal Pradesh in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group C match.

Sharma last played for the state in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2019 after making his T20 debut for Madhya Pradesh in 2018. When Pandit became the head coach of MP, Ashutosh fell out of favour and was not considered for three seasons:

“I scored 84 runs in my last innings for MP against Pondicheery. But Mr. Panit had his ways of functioning. He didn’t want me in the squad for any format. It was a tough moment for me.”

It is expected that Ashutosh will play an aggressive game in the remaining matches of the 17th season of the league.