“There was a time when I was not even allowed to feel the cricket pitch,” Ashutosh Sharma revealed about the toughest phase of his cricketing career a day after the biggest match of his short career. The 25-year-old Railways cricketer, who had a creditable 31 off 17 balls for Kings XI Punjab in a high-scoring chase against the Gujarat Titans, is talking about that in 2020-22 For a while, he didn’t know where his career was going.

He had fallen out of favor with India’s most famous domestic coach, Chandrakant Pandit, who had just taken over as MP head coach.

“I would go to the gym and then go back to the hotel room. I fell into depression and no one told me what my fault was. A new coach joined Madhya Pradesh and he had strong likes and dislikes, although in 45 games After scoring 90-plus points in a qualifying match, I was dismissed,” Ashutosh said without revealing the name of the coach.

Although he did not mention Pandit, it was clear that he was referring to Pandit.

After pacers Guruv Yadav (former MP pacer) and Namibia’s David Vaise (former KKR all-rounder), Ashutosh has now started complaining about Mumbai’s ‘my way or high way’ coaching style .

“Last season, I hit three fifties in six games against Mushtaq Ali but I wasn’t even allowed to play. I was very frustrated,” the 25-year-old told reporters At the time, anxiety was evident in his voice. .

A job offer from the Railways once again helped him out of trouble and last year he equaled Yuvraj Singh’s score against Arunachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The fastest record of scoring a T20 fifty in a match with 11 balls.

He earned a spot at the Kings XI Punjab auction as he was spotted by Kings XI Punjab’s batting coach and former Railways legend Sanjay Bangar.

But if anyone got Ashutosh emotional, it was his childhood coach Amay Khurasiya, whom the former India southpaw has seen since he was 12 at the MPCA Academy. Even when Ashutosh faced a mental health crisis, Kulasiya was there.

“Amai sir has known me since childhood. I get a lot of advice about mental health from him. I speak to him before every game and even before this game I spoke to him. And Shikhar ·Paji (Dhawan), Sanjay sir’s perspective on the game and taking the shots right instead of trying to struggle helped.”

Kulasya says it’s the coach’s responsibility to shape players

Khurasiya is extremely happy for his ward, whom he first met at the age of 12 at the Indore Academy, who came all the way from Rutland to devote himself to cricket.

When asked about how his career went downhill after Pandit’s outright rejection, Kulasiya spoke about his philosophy.

“You have to empower kids. Every kid is going to come from a different socioeconomic background. They’re going to have different behavioral patterns. My responsibility as a coach is to find that connection with the kid and not expect him to connect with me right away. If he His attitude is a problem and it is my responsibility to change him and guide him in that direction,” Kulasiya told PTI.

But he said that’s easier said than done.

“You need to do a lot of work on the mental side of the kid. How to get a boy’s cricket philosophy to align with yours, that’s not a boy’s problem. It’s easy to ignore, disrespect and alienate boys from the system. But if you have the power to help, Try to help as much as you can,” said Kulasiya, whose batting style was ahead of its time.

“If he (the coach) thinks boys don’t make mistakes, he’s wrong. Boys do make mistakes. Coaches have a tendency to lean towards brilliant minds. It’s important for coaches to work on EQ (emotional intelligence) rather than BQ ( talent quotient),” he said.

Mother recalls child’s lonely battle

Living alone as a teenager was never easy and Ashutosh too went through some struggles after his parents left him in Indore to hone his cricketing skills as Ratlam never had such facilities.

“It was a very difficult time as I had to stay away from my home in Indore. Sometimes I faced difficulties as well. I didn’t have money to buy food, so I would act as a referee to ensure that a meal was guaranteed to stay” in a very In the small dormitory, I had to do laundry, but MPCA Academy helped me. Amay sir helped me a lot. ” recalled Ashitish.

His mother Hemlata Sharma said they were an ordinary middle-class family but had no financial difficulties.

“Ashutosh’s father (Rambabu Sharma) worked at ESI Hospital in Rutland. We did not face financial difficulties but Ashutosh faced difficulties of his own from a young age. It was when he joined Railways, uske sataare chamak uthe,” Hemlata said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)