Jitesh Sharma's knock wins the Best Innings of IPL 2025 award

Tom Moody and Abhinav Mukund have become overnight fans of Jitesh Sharma after he led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) from the front to Qualifier 1 of the IPL 2025 on May 27. Jitesh Sharma played one of the best IPL knocks to help RCB beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by six wickets in the last league match of this season at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

Coming to bat at No. 6, the stand-in captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru played a whirlwind knock of an unbeaten 85 runs off just 33 balls, studded with eight boundaries and six sixes, to take his team over the line inside the 19th over against the Lucknow Super Giants.

With their emphatic six-wicket win over LSG, RCB finished their league phase in the second spot with 19 points in the table to qualify for Qualifier 1. Now, they will face Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 on Wednesday, May 29, in Chandigarh.

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Tom Moody hails Jitesh Sharma’s knock as the best of IPL 2025

Well, his knock ranks only 23rd on the list of top individual scores in IPL 2025, but Tom Moody called Jitesh’s knock the best innings of this season.

He mentioned how RCB was under pressure with big guns like Virat Kohli and Phil Salt already back in the dugout and the momentum was against them, but Jitesh Sharma smashed through it with fearless hitting and smart decision-making.

The former Australian cricketer hailed Jitesh Sharma's smart game, saying he picked gaps, timed his shots perfectly, and switched gears with ease. He targeted the right bowlers and took calculated risks, showing incredible maturity under pressure.

It wasn’t just power-hitting but was also a well-thought-out assault that won the game for RCB against the LSG in Lucknow.

Tom Moody said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out: “The innings is, for me, the innings of the IPL this season by a stretch. We've seen some great knocks from young and old, but this one, wow, quite remarkable!"

"He not only took the game apart, he played smartly; just the way he went about it was like he'd been there and done it before many, many times.”

Read Also: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli's 2027 World Cup participation in serious doubts now

Abhinav Mukund praises Jitesh Sharma for showing maturity and playing smart cricket under pressure

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund hailed Jitesh Sharma for playing very smart cricket against the LSG and was impressed by the RCB star's handling of the field changes made by LSG captain Rishabh Pant. Mukund also felt luck was on Jitesh’s side, as he survived a run-out, got saved by a no-ball, and avoided another run-out at the non-striker’s end.

The cricket expert pointed out that Jitesh learned from RCB’s last game against SRH, where they collapsed after being in a good position. This time, Jitesh made sure he didn’t repeat the mistake. He held his nerve, batted smartly after getting the lifeline, and showed why mid-order players like him are so valuable in crunch games in the tournament.

He proves why the big bucks were paying to the mid-order batter: Abhinav Mukund

Abhinav Mukund said on the same show, “And that's a great sign of any IPL cricketer, right? I feared the same when he got out of that no-ball, but luck is a beautiful thing there. You get a reprieve, and then you say, 'Okay, this time I'm not making a mistake again.”

He signed off by saying, “That's exactly what happened. I'm very, very happy for Jitesh, but this is exactly what you're paying the big bucks for as a mid-order batter. And he's proven that aplenty. On a night when your top wicketkeeper or your World Cup wicketkeeper [Pant] gets a hundred and everyone's happy, this guy's got one better, I would think, with 85* off 33.”

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