The finisher who now takes wickets: Ashutosh Sharma is making a compelling all-round case for India after exploits in England

The finisher who now takes wickets: Ashutosh Sharma is making a compelling all-round case for India after exploits in England originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:Ashutosh Sharma has taken 13 wickets in his first four One-Day Cup games for Hampshire. • >The IPL finisher had never bowled in his 32-match IPL career before this. • >His medium pace is quietly building a genuine all-round case for higher honours.Ashutosh Sharma is making a compelling all-round case for India after exploits in EnglandAshutosh Sharma arrived in England with a reputation built almost entirely on clean, fearless hitting down the order. A few weeks into his maiden county stint, the Delhi Capitals finisher is rewriting that identity, turning heads not with the bat but with a bowling arm few knew he possessed.

>Sharma has claimed 13 wickets across his appearances in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup for Hampshire. He struck three times on debut against Yorkshire before improving on that with four scalps against Middlesex, followed by a five-wicket haul - an eye-catching return for a recognised batting specialist.

SHARMA AGAIN THAT IS SUPERB ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/oisuL9Sv7Q

— Hampshire Cricket (@hantscricket) July 31, 2026The numbers are all the more surprising given his history. Before this, Sharma had managed just two wickets in 22 overs across four List A innings before this tournament and has never once been called upon to bowl in his 32-match IPL career.

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From power-hitter to wicket-takerSharma first announced himself in 2023, breaking Yuvraj Singh's record for the fastest T20 fifty by an Indian, reaching the milestone in a staggering 11 balls. That innings earned him an IPL contract with Punjab Kings before Delhi Capitals invested in him as a finisher for the following seasons.

>His batting pedigree in the format is well established. Not only that but Sharma has scored at a strike rate of around 170 across his two Delhi campaigns, cementing a role as one of the more destructive lower-order hitters on the circuit.

>The bowling, though, has been a revelation. His medium pace was expected to be an afterthought at Hampshire, a part-time option at most, yet it has instead become the standout feature of his early weeks in county cricket.

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Building a fuller cricketerThe signs had been there in the shorter format before he travelled. Even before his time in England, Sharma picked up seven wickets in eight innings for the Malwa Stallions in the 2026 Madhya Pradesh League, finishing as a joint-highest wicket-taker for his side while captaining the team.

>That form has now carried into a higher standard against professional English batting units. The willingness to develop a second string, having built his career on a single, specialised skill, points to a cricketer consciously broadening his range rather than resting on his finished reputation. The temptation is to get carried away, and a note of caution belongs here.

>Two matches against county opposition do not make a Test all-rounder, and Sharma's List A batting average remains modest despite the strike rate. Yet in an Indian set-up that prizes multi-dimensional cricketers, a finisher who can also take wickets is exactly the kind of profile selectors covet, and Sharma is quietly making himself harder to overlook.

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