SMAT 2025-26: Hard lengths and hard yards pay dividends for Rajasthan’s Ashok Sharma
Rajasthan pacer Ashok Sharma, who is now the leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets from five matches in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, identifies himself as a hard-length bowler. That’s one big takeaway from his conversations with Pat Cummins at the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) camp in IPL 2022.
“He asked me a simple question. ‘What kind of a bowler are you?’ He explained, ‘All bowlers are different – some hit the hard length, some bowl good slower deliveries.’
“I told him that I can bowl hard-length deliveries effectively. He told me to back myself on my strength irrespective of the format I was playing. He asked me to work more on it. So, I worked on it and have been executing it well,” he said after his team’s two-wicket win over Saurashtra at the Narendra Modi Stadium B-Ground here on Thursday.
Ashok followed up his four for 16 versus Uttarakhand with a four for 20 on what turned out to be a conducive wicket for him.
“The wicket was good for fast-bowling. There was a little moisture in the morning, and it was a hard-length wicket. So, the hard-length balls were coming out well. I didn’t have to try anything extra, just bowl fast on a hard length,” he said.
Bowling fast comes naturally to him. At 23, he can crank it up to 145 kph and even prefers rushing batters with his bouncers. Both Tamil Nadu openers fell to his hostile bouncers — Tushar Raheja top-edged a pull to point, and Amith Sathvik could only slash to third man. He accounted for Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat with a yorker at the death, a delivery he’s “worked on” pre-season.
With two three-fors and two four-fors already, it’s hard to believe this is only his maiden T20 season for Rajasthan.
Ashok’s journey is nothing short of remarkable. A farmer’s son from the village of Rampura, he’s come up the hard way, helped by a sacrifice at home — his elder brother quit cricket because their father could afford coaching for only one sibling.
He first picked up a leather ball at the Aravali Cricket Club — the same club where he continues to train. It was founded by former Rajasthan cricketer Vivek Yadav, who became Ashok’s mentor before tragically passing away during COVID.
From borrowing gear from senior players at the club, Ashok travelled by flight for the first time after earning selection to the Rajasthan U-19 team. In 2021, Rajasthan Royals roped him in as a net bowler after his performance in the Red Bull Speedster — a talent-hunt jointly organised with Red Bull to identify fast bowlers. He continued in that role in 2023 and 2024 as well, before the franchise finally signed him in 2025.
Dishant Yagnik, who was with the Royals then, shared videos from his 2021 net-bowling stint with other IPL franchises. That was how KKR took notice of him and picked him for the 2022 season.
Ashok can strike big blows with the bat, too. Chasing 146 in the win against Saurashtra, he remained unbeaten on 15 off 7 balls, hitting two vital sixes — straight and over long-on off medium-pacer Prerak Mankad in the 19th over, with 29 still needed.
He didn’t hesitate when asked about his goal for this T20 season. “I want to finish as the highest wicket-taker.”
Published on Dec 05, 2025
