"Our dreams are aligned; playing for India" - Atharva Taide on how he thrives on PBKS & Vidarbha teammate Jitesh Sharma's company amidst IPL 2024

Atharva Taide and Jitesh Sharma share a great camaraderie, not just because they are a part of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) dressing room for the past two IPL seasons. The duo are also an important part of the Vidarbha team in domestic cricket and have spent a lot of time together.

Taide spoke about how Jitesh shares his experiences about rubbing shoulders with some of the big names in the Indian team like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.

Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Atharva Taide explained how Jitesh Sharma motivates him to push harder for his dream to play for India soon. He said:

"Me and Jitesh spend a lot of time together. He is not just a Punjab Kings player part of Indian team as well and shares the dressing room with some of the best players in the world like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav. He learns a lot from them and shares his experience with me. Our dreams are aligned; playing for India."

Taide believes the fact that he has already spent a lot of time together with Jitesh helps him both on and off the field at the Punjab Kings.

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Atharva Taide on starting on the bench for PBKS

Atharva Taide scored 186 runs in the IPL 2023 season in the seven games he played at a fine strike rate of 144.19 with a couple of half-centuries to his name. However, Punjab Kings started the IPL 2024 season with the opening combination of Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow, thereby pushing Prabhsimran Singh to No. 3.

While this means Atharva Taide has to wait for his opportunity, the youngster has decided to focus on his skills rather than worry about his spot in the XI. He stated:

"Throughout any cricketer's career, there will be phases when they will have to be ready to get called up for an opportunity at any point in time. My focus at the moment is just working hard off the field, forcing on my skills, talking to the coaches on improvements I can work for till I get a match.

"The more I keep fine-tuning and not focus on selection, the better it is for me. In the game then I jus have to express myself as I have worked on my skills off the field."

Punjab Kings lost their previous game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the final over. They will be keen to get back to winning ways as they face the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Saturday, March 30.