T20 World Cup: Will Jitesh Sharma be India’s go-to man behind stumps?

The wicketkeeper-batter’s spot in India’s T20I team has often been a musical chair of sorts, thanks to an embarrassment of riches. Jitesh Sharma, the explosive lower-order batter who equalled one of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s feats behind the stumps during India’s whopping 101-run win in the first T20I against the Proteas, has emerged as the go-to person for the upcoming T20 World Cup at home now.

The bandwagon has crisscrossed the country to Punjab on Wednesday, 10 December, as the teams face off at Mullanpur in Punjab on Thursday — the punishing schedule being nothing short of IPL standards. Sharma, no spring chicken at 32, will be back on duty at the expense of the more experienced Sanju Samson, who had to make way for Shubman Gill at the top of the order.

Samson’s loss has been Sharma’s gain as it’s difficult to find a role for the Malayali down the order, and the man currently in favour has been quick to play down any talk of competition between them. “I am very grateful that he is in the team and I am under him. He is like an elder brother,” said Sharma, who switched over from Vidarbha to Baroda for the current domestic season.

“Because of healthy competition, your talent comes out. It’s good for the team. Sanju bhai is out, and I am playing. He is a great player — one of the great players. If I have to compete with him and play shoulder to shoulder, I have to bring my A-game,” he added.

After being in the periphery for a while, Sharma made the best of IPL 2025 in a chaser’s role for champions Royal Challengers Bangalore, making the trip Down Under in October. He took four catches at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Tuesday to equal Dhoni’s feat at the same venue, though the former Indian skipper still holds the record for most wicketkeeping dismissals for India in a T20I innings (five).

Sharma’s victims were Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira and  Keshav Maharaj, while the bowlers — Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya — ran riot to dismiss the visitors for 74.

There are still nine T20Is to play ahead of the World T20 in India and Sri Lanka (the four remaining against SA and five against New Zealand) and it would be interesting to see how quickly Gill, now vice-captain, can fire in this format.

Irfan Pathan, former India allrounder and now a TV pundit, backed the choice of Sharma for now: "It’s a fair call because you will face difficulty going forward if you are thinking about batting Sanju Samson down the order. Sanju has batted up the order, in the top three, in his entire career. It’s a very difficult job if you go down from there. He played a very good knock in the Asia Cup while batting in the middle overs.

“However, if you have to choose one between the two as to who will be more competent and proceed with one plan, you are proceeding with Jitesh Sharma currently and you will have to move forward with him only. If you keep chopping and changing, you will have difficulties going forward.”

India’s elite glove club

MS Dhoni (vs ENG) Bristol, 2018 (5 catches)

MS Dhoni (vs AFG) St Lucia, 2010 (4 catches)

MS Dhoni (vs PAK) Colombo RPS, 2012 (4 catches)

MS Dhoni (vs SL) Cuttack, 2017 (2 catches, 2 stumpings)

Dinesh Karthik (vs ENG) Southampton, 2022 (3 catches, 1 stumping)

Jitesh Sharma (vs SA) Cuttack, 2025 (4 catches)