‘Looking forward to having you in…’ – RCB wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma reveals interesting story behind his Indian team selection

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper batter Jitesh Sharma enjoyed a decent start to his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign. Jitesh who began his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2017 didn’t get to play a game during the title winning season. Sharma then had to wait five years to make his IPL debut with Punjab Kings and enjoyed two good seasons in 2022 and 2023. 

Jitesh Sharma then earned his maiden call-up to the Indian team and played a handful of matches. His last appearance for India came in the T20I game against Afghanistan in early 2024. The 31-year-old was recently talking to RCB where Sharma revealed the story behind his selection to the Indian cricket team. 

The 31-year-old recalled and said, “I came in as a replacement for player into the Indian team because Sanju Samson had a knee injury. An Indian selector called and said, 'We are looking forward to having you in the Indian team. Be ready, by evening you will get a call about when you have to leave.”

So far, Jitesh has played nine T20I games for India scoring 100 runs with a best of 35 and has an average of 14 with a strike rate of 147. Sharma has also taken three catches and one stumping for India in the T20I format. Sanju Samson’s amazing form and the emergence of Dhruv Jurel as well as the return of Rishabh Pant has seen Jitesh Sharma struggle to make it back to the national set-up. 

Jitesh Sharma speaks about getting love from RCB fans 

During the course of the interview with RCB, the 31-year-old mentioned how he couldn’t full process his selection to Team India. Jitesh said, “I didn't get a chance to soak in the entire selection process because everything happened very quickly. Just as I reached, the next day I had to go for practice. I was definitely nervous, my hands and legs became cold. Because to wear that Indian jersey and then Surya bhai was there, Hardik bhai was also there. Rahul Dravid sir was the coach at that time."

Jitesh then spoke about the love he got from RCB fans even before his debut game and his reaction to it. “When I went to play Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, people were screaming 'Jitesh-Jitesh', and 'RCB-RCB', that's when I realised that I haven't gone to a small team. It's not a trivial matter that I've come to RCB. It was a different feeling because 100-150 people were waiting for my autograph. I wasn't expecting anything like this. I had already played for India before, had done it all but even 2 people didn't come. That's when I realised that this franchise is something else," said the 31-year-old.