Dissecting Jitesh Sharma's woes vs pace bowling in IPL 2026
What's the story
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma is enduring a woeful run in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Across 10 matches (eight innings) this season, Jitesh has scored just 64 runs at a dismal average of eight and a strike rate of 108.47. He has particularly struggled against pace bowling, averaging just four against them. Here we decode his struggles against fast bowlers this season.
Match performance
Jitesh fails to impress in RCB's loss to LSG
In a recent match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), RCB were chasing a revised target of 210 runs in 19 overs. Jitesh was expected to play a key role after the dismissal of Devdutt Padikkal in the 11th over. However, he fell to Prince Yadav for just one run off three balls, further worsening his already poor season statistics. The defeat also ended LSG's six-match losing streak in IPL 2026.
Struggles
Seven dismissals against pacers
As per Cricbuzz, Jitesh has fallen to pacers seven times across eight innings in IPL 2026. He has managed just 28 runs off 37 balls in this regard at a terrible average of 4. His strike rate is also a paltry 75.67, as the 32-year-old owns a dot ball percentage of 52.6% against fast bowlers. There has been just once instance of Jitesh falling to a spinner.
Campaign
Worst average in IPL 2026
Meanwhile, Jitesh's overall average of 8 is the lowest among all players who have batted at least eight times in IPL 2026 irrespective of the position. No other player has a sub-12 average in this regard. His performance this year is a far cry from his impressive showing in IPL 2025, when he scored a total of 261 runs across 15 matches at an average of over 37 and an explosive strike rate exceeding 176.
Expert opinion
Rayudu expresses disappointment over Jitesh's performance
Following the LSG-RCB game, former Indian batter Ambati Rayudu, speaking on ESPNcricinfo, expressed his disappointment with Jitesh's performance. He said, "I think he had a great opportunity to come back sharp after the small break that they had, but he just seems to be getting late on short balls." Overall, Jitesh owns 1,055 runs from 65 IPL games at 22.44. His strike rate is 152.89.