Jitesh Sharma will compete with Sanju Samson for keeper's spot in India XI for Asia Cup 2025.
Karthik revealed that Jitesh, who joined the RCB franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 season and won the title with them, was never desperate to play for India, but as soon as he realized that he was on the fringes after his terrific performances for Punjab Kings, it affected his performance.
Thanks to his performances for RCB in IPL 2025, Jitesh Sharma has made a comeback into the Indian team for the Asia Cup 2025 tournament.
“He was never desperate to play for India. And he was very free, and he went about playing very confidently for the Punjab Kings and then made it to the Indian team. And then he knew that he was on the fringes. That's when he became desperate. That kind of filtered into his performances,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Furthermore, Karthik also shared that Jitesh was keen to become a better finisher for RCB and how he helped him unlock his true potential.
“What he wanted to work on was, how do I finish a game? How do I get the team to be above par? So he was playing a lot of cameos, never knowing how to get that big inning that was required to win a game or take the team far in the first inning. I kind of know what it takes to do that. With the skills he had, there was so much potential that I just needed to unlock it,” he added.
Karthik, who had retired from the game in 2024, helped Jitesh Sharma flourish as a finisher. In 11 innings, Jitesh scored 261 runs at a strike rate of 176.35 and an average of 37.28. He had his greatest innings against LSG, scoring an incredible 85* (33) to chase down 228 in just 18.4 overs and help RCB reach the top two of the points table.
Jitesh last played for India in January 2024 against Afghanistan and has scored 100 runs from seven T20Is so far. He will have to compete with Sanju Samson for the keeper-batter spot in India XI.