'He was playing a lot of cameos, never knowing how to get...': Dinesh Karthik explains how RCB helped Jitesh Sharma to 'unlock his true potential'

Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik lavished praise on Jitesh Sharma after the wicketkeeper-batter was rewarded selection for India's Asia Cup 2025 squad. Jitesh has recently made a comeback in the Indian side after phenomenal performances for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their victorious campaign of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025).

The star batter has played several crucial knocks for the Bengaluru-based franchise, giving the perfect finish to the innings time and again. Karthik 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 above par? So he was playing a lot of cameos, never knowing how to get that big innings that was required to win a game or take the team far in the first innings. 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,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Karthik further stated that Jitesh was never too desperate to play for India, but as soon as he realised that he was on the fringes after his terrific performances for Punjab Kings, it affected his performance.

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“He was never someone who was desperate to play for India. And he was very free and he went about playing very confidently for 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 added.

Under Dinesh Karthik's guidance, who has been roped in with RCB as batting coach, Jitesh flourished as the finisher, amassing 261 runs in 11 innings at an average of 37.28 and a strike rate of 176.35. His best innings came against LSG as his quick 85* (33) helped RCB chase down 228 in just 18.4 overs and finish in the top two of the points table.

Jitesh's last outing for India came in January 2024 against Afghanistan. He scored 100 runs in seven T20Is. Despite getting a spot in India's Asia Cup 2025 squad, Jitesh will have to fight for the wicketkeeper’s slot in the playing XI as Sanju Samson is already India’s preferred wicketkeeper choice from a long time.