Jitesh Sharma Height, Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Jitesh Sharma is an Indian cricketer (Wicketkeeper-Batter), who represents Vidarbha in Indian domestic cricket. As of 2022, he is also a part of the Punjab Kings franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In January 2023, he was named in India’s T20 international squad for the three-match T20 series between India and Sri Lanka; Jitesh Sharma replaced Sanju Samson in the team after Samson was ruled out with a knee injury.

Wiki/Biography

Jitesh Mohan Sharma was born on Friday, 22 October 1993 (age 30 years; as of 2023) in Amravati, Maharashtra. His zodiac sign is Libra.

He has studied till class 12. Jitesh desired to get into the Indian armed forces since childhood. He initially began playing cricket in his school days as it gave him the chance to miss his classes. He continued the sport to get some extra marks to enroll in the Indian army. While talking about the same in an interview, Jitesh said,

I actually wanted to go into the armed forces. In Maharashtra school cricket, you get 4% grace in army tests if you play state cricket. I joined my school team because they played around the state level. I decided I’ll give a trial, and that’s how I started playing the sport. My dad never questioned me, and funnily enough, my mother still doesn’t know that I am playing at a level like the IPL. None of my cricket friends from those days play the sport – they all have normal jobs now.”

Further, sharing how he decided to pursue cricket as his career, Jitesh said,

Somehow cricket has followed me. There were state trials once, for the BCCI U-16 tournament, and I scored runs there. But even then I had the air force as my first option, and I told my father that again. He agreed with my ambition but just asked me to keep playing cricket to keep my fitness levels up. Next year I wanted to keep playing so I went for U-19 trials, and once I got selected there too, I thought, I can make something out of this cricket.”

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 10″

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Parents & Siblings

His father’s name is Mohan Sharma and his mother’s name is Ashima Sharma. He has a younger brother, Nitesh Sharma.

Wife

As of 2022, Jitesh Sharma is unmarried.

Cricket

Domestic

Jitesh Sharma gave brilliant performances in the 2012-13 Cooch Behar Trophy, scoring 537 runs in 12 innings with two centuries and a half-century.

Vidarbha

After a solid outing in the 2012-13 Cooch Behar Trophy, Jitesh Sharma was included in the Vidarbha senior team in 2013. Sharma made his List A debut on 27 February 2014 in the 2013–14 Vijay Hazare Trophy in Jaipur. For the first two seasons, he played only limited over matches for Vidarbha, batting mostly in the top order. He played against Rajasthan in the match.

In the same year, on 31 March, Jitesh made his T20 debut against UP in Nagpur. On 1 October 2015, Jitesh made his first-class debut in the 2015–16 Ranji Trophy against Odisha at Nagpur. During the tournament, he scored 180 runs in seven matches at an average of 18.

In 2015-16, he was the third-highest run scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 343 runs at a strike rate of 143.51 with one century and two half-centuries. In the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, Jitesh was the leading run-scorer for Vidarbha, scoring 298 runs in seven matches.

Indian Premier League

Mumbai Indians

Impressed with Jitesh’s attacking approach at the top order, the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians bought Jitesh for Rs. 10 lacks during the 2016 IPL auction. Although Jitesh did not play any matches for the team, he was a part of the Mumbai Indians squad that won season 10 of the Indian Premier League. He was released by Mumbai Indians in 2018.

Punjab Kings

In February 2022, the IPL franchise Punjab Kings picked up Jitesh Sharma for Rs. 20 lakhs during the auction. He made his IPL debut on 3 April 2022 against Chennai Super Kings. In his second ball of the match, Sharma smoked Moeen Ali for six over square leg. He struck three huge sixes during his impressive knock of 26 runs off 17 balls, helping Punjab Kings to win.

Subsequently, he played 10 IPL matches for the Punjab Kings, scoring 234 runs (including 22 fours and 12 sixes) at a strike rate of 163.63.

International

T20I

In January 2023, Jitesh was named in India’s T20 international squad by the BCCI for India’s three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka. Sharma was called as a replacement for Sanju Samson, who hurt his knee while fielding in the first match of the series. He made his T20I debut on 3 October 2023 against Nepal during the 2022 Asian Games.

Facts/Trivia

• Jitesh Sharma loves travelling, doing adventure sports, and playing golf in his leisure time.

• He is a right-hand batter and wicketkeeper.

• Sharma has endorsed the sports nutrition brand My Proteinin on his Instagram account.
  

  Jitesh Sharma endorsing My Proteinin products on Instagram

•  A fitness enthusiast, Jitesh follows a strict workout regimen.
  

  Jitesh Sharma during his workout session

• He is fondly called Jittu by his friends and family members. ^[1]Jitesh Sharma – Instagram

• Jitesh Sharma has several tattoos inked on his body including a tortoise tattoo on his back just below his neck, a star tattoo on his left forearm, a tattoo on his left bicep, and a Trishul tattoo on his right forearm.
  

  Jitesh Sharma’s tattoos

• He is well-versed in three languages- Hindi, English, and Marathi.

• In an interview, Jitesh revealed that he didn’t have a personal coach.

• Jitesh Sharma admires Rohit Sharma for his batting style. In an interview, while sharing the advice that he received from Rohit Sharma, Jitesh said,
  

  When I was with MI, I was a top-order batter and naturally, Rohit Sharma has been one of my favorite players. I had once interacted with him in the nets, where he told me, ‘Focus on using the speed of the bowler. When the speed of the bowler increases, it is better to trust your timing rather than your power-game.’ So, that advice has stayed with me and I try and implement it to date.”

  

  Jitesh Sharma with Rohit Sharma

• Jitesh considers the South African cricketer AB de Villiers his idol. In an interview, when asked if he wanted to work on building a 360-degree game like De Villiers, Jitesh replied,
  

  AB de Villiers has been my idol ever since I started batting in the middle-order. 360 degree to nahi par 250-260 degree ki koshish jaroor karta hu (laughs) (Not trying to play 360-degree shots, but trying to cover 250-260 degrees atleast).”

• Sharma is known for playing a variety of strokes.

• In a media conversation, Jitesh revealed that when he was expelled from Vidarbha’s Ranji Trophy, he went into depression.