Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma has said that he is looking forward the most to working with the veteran Dinesh Karthik in the 2025 IPL season as well. With Karthik retiring from the IPL after the 2024 season as well, and RCB went all out for Jitesh and bought him for ₹11 crore in the IPL 2025 auction as well.

Speaking to Sportstar about the upcoming IPL season, Jitesh Sharma said: “I am looking forward to working with DK bhai. He played a similar role for RCB, and I am going to fill in his shoes. People are expecting me to take Virat Kohli’s name, but I am taking DK bhai’s name because he is someone who can teach me more.”

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“I wasn’t expecting so much money. I was expecting around Rs. 6 to 8 crore. But RCB showed so much belief in me, and I am very grateful for this opportunity. More than pressure, this is a challenge for me, and I feel I am worthy of it. It feels good that they attached such a huge price tag on me when they increased my value against the Right to Match option. It gives me more confidence rather than pressure. It is now my turn to give it back to the team,” again said Jitesh.

Jitesh Sharma also said that his focus would be to win as many matches as possible for RCB this season. However, he couldn’t make the most of his opportunities with the Indian T20I team, averaging a dismal 14.28 at a strike rate of 147.05 in nine matches as well.

“I am going to focus more on winning matches for RCB rather than scoring runs. I love to win matches. If I score runs but the team loses, I don’t like that. I am the happiest person if I score a duck, but the team wins. Winning and losing is the ultimate in sport,” concluded Jitesh Sharma.