Uncapped Indian batters Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma have been IPL 2024’s sleeper hits, playing entertaining innings despite their team Punjab Kings not making it past the league stage. In an interaction with The Indian Express, moderated by Pratyush Raj, Shashank talks about learning from Mumbai mates, having a hard taskmaster as a father and his sister’s geeky loyalty to his career, while Ashutosh recalls his life as an 11-year-old moving to Indore to pursue cricket, and hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a six.
Excerpts follow from Shashank’s interview. You can read Ashutosh’s interview here.
How different is the IPL and domestic cricket?
The IPL experience is great. The competition in domestic cricket is also tough. Whatever performances I have is because of the domestic circuit. I wouldn’t say there is too much difference between the IPL and domestic cricket. However, in the IPL you have to handle a lot of mental pressure compared to Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy or Vijay Hazare Trophy. Maybe the crowd pressure is different in the IPL.
Shashank Singh celebrates after guiding Punjab Kings to a win over Gujarat Titans (Sportzpics / IPL)
How big was the decision to leave Mumbai after playing there?
It was very hard to be honest. I wasn’t getting the opportunity in the red ball circuit. The competition in Mumbai was immense and Abhishek Nayar, Shivam Dube, Shreyas (Iyer) Surya (Kumar Yadav), Sarfaraz (Khan), all these guys were doing well. As a cricketer, you have a very short span … 15-16 years. So I didn’t want to miss one year (cooling off period). So I decided to move to my home state Chhattisgarh. Moving from Mumbai to another state was emotional for me. I’d played all my cricket with the Mumbai boys.
Could you talk about your father’s involvement in cricket?
It was my father’s dream (that I make a name in cricket). He was always protective and caring. He used to stand behind the nets. Once Santosh Shinde (former Mumbai Ranji fast bowler) bowled me thrice with yorkers in the nets. Papa started to scold me. He told me to leave cricket and concentrate on my studies. The other day after the KKR game, I was receiving praise from everyone. But my father had a problem that I was beaten thrice by Sunil Narine. Sometimes I get angry but he gives me a reality check.
You have played with Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer in Mumbai. How has this helped?
They are great friends. If I pick up things from them, it is a big thing. Recently before IPL, asked Surya about his foot placement and the areas he targets when playing the sweep shot. I spoke to Iyer on his fitness, his head position and his training process. I’m grateful that I have such good people around me.
What changes have you experienced post-success in the IPL?
It feels good that people have started to recognise me. The number of followers on Instagram has also increased. When I used to play Under-19 cricket, I saw how fans used to run to meet Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane and thought how good they must have felt.
Also when I met Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) in Dharamsala. I asked him what I should do better next season. He replied: ‘Shashank what happens is that in the second season, a player forgets the process that had worked. The process resulted in success. You gave your best this time and if you have to do better again, don’t forget your process. 90 per cent forget this process, they try new things and that is where their graph goes down’.
You are very close to your elder sister and we have heard she is obsessed with cricket.
She is emotional about me. Whenever anything negative about me is posted on social media, she keeps a tab. She keeps every single newspaper cutting. Last year when I was not in the IPL, I was extremely disappointed. But every other day, I used to get long emails from her about my past performance and about my love for the game.
Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh with her elder sister Shrutika Singh.
The other day we were playing against CSK and we didn’t know Matheesha Pathirana (fast bowler) was not playing. But a day before the game, she sent me three or four links on how to read Pathirana. Against Mumbai Indians, I got out to Bumrah’s slower one. She sent me a 10-page email. I didn’t read a single line. I asked her to narrate it because I can’t read that much. She is an engineer herself, so she enters into that technical territory.
The auction fiasco (Punjab had initially said they had bought the wrong Shashank Singh) was handled well by you and the franchise. What was the family’s reaction at that time?
My sister must have replied to 200 people on social media. She kept on reminding people about my record. She was telling people that he is the Shashank Singh that the Punjab Kings wanted. The other Shashank Singh is very young. He is an Under-19 cricketer. I am sure he is very talented and he plays for Bengal. After that auction, my sister said that everyone will have an eye on me and if I do well sabke muh band ho jayenge (It will shut down critics).
She had taken the auction fiasco to heart. My mother told me that she even cried for a few days.
Punjab Kings batter Shahsink Singh plays a shot during their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (Sportzpics)
Finishing is such a specialized role, but the stardom is reserved for players who vie for the Purple Cap or Orange Cap. Both of you bat relatively lower down the order so may not be in the running for such honours. Do you feel that you don’t get the recognition your contributions deserve?
At the level we play, everyone’s role is pre-decided – be it the top order, middle order or finisher. It’s not important how many runs you score, it’s important how many matches you have won for the team. When we score runs but the team doesn’t win, it’s a bigger disappointment. In the match against Gujarat Titans, both me and Ashutosh scored runs, but the game-changing moment was Jitesh (Sharma) hitting Rashid Khan for two sixes, even though he scored only 15-18 runs (16). Sometimes, the scorecard doesn’t show what you have done, but as a professional, you know what you have contributed and how has the team benefitted. In our team environment, every run and wicket, even a piece of fielding – a stop or a run-out – matters. So, at this level, sometimes these small contributions matter more than a bigger one in terms of runs.
If someone from your team wins the Purple Cap or Orange Cap, it feels good. But at the end of the day, it’s a team sport. So, we get more satisfaction in contributing to the team’s cause.
IPL now is a very big tournament. Most of the youngsters coming through the levels want to play in the IPL. Has the coaching at the grassroots level evolved in that respect, not just in the technical aspect but also in situational awareness in match conditions?
The intent and shot-selection of players at the grassroot, U-19 or other junior levels has evolved and changed a lot in the last 10-12 years. The way they are hitting the ball, the way they are showing intent, is very different now. This is a very good sign for cricket. Arshin Kulkarni, who plays for LSG, hits an on-drive on the first ball he faces. Yashasvi Jaiswal has hit six fours in six balls of the first over in the IPL. The mindset has changed a lot.
No doubt, you work a lot on your technique and develop the ramp shot, reverse-sweep, reverse-scoop during the off-season. These things will continue and evolve more in the future. At a high level such as the IPL, the mindset and approach has changed and that’s why scores of 220-230 are being scored and even chased down. Batting and power-hitting has changed and evolved a lot.
As far as game-reading is concerned, that comes with experience. If you ask an U-19 cricketer to play the anchor role or finish a game, that would be very harsh on him. There are exceptions, like Shubman Gill, who is very mature for his age. In the game against Chennai Super Kings, I got out because of a very school-boy error. We needed eight runs an over, and I played a very bad shot. I consider myself a more mature player than some of the others, but still I made that error. But you learn from your mistakes, and hopefully in the future matches and later in my career, I won’t make that mistake again. So obviously, it’s a learning curve in cricket.
This game awareness comes with playing a certain number of matches, some get it more quickly than others