What happened when Jitesh Sharma led in the Indian Premier League before RCB vs SRH IPL 2025 match?

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were without their regular captain Rajat Patidar for the IPL 2025 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Lucknow on Friday, May 23. He was, however, listed as one of the five impact subs for the side. In his absence, gloveman Jitesh Sharma walked to the toss for RCB.

This isn't the first time that the wicketkeeper-batter would lead in the IPL. He made his captaincy debut in the T20 league last season.

Jitesh Sharma led PBKS in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan in the IPL 2024 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad. Like on Friday, he won the toss in that game as well, but opted to bat first, unlike on Friday.

Prabhsimran Singh emerged as PBKS' batting hero with a 45-ball 71 and was aided by Atharva Taide's 46 off 27 balls and Rilee Rossouw's 49 off 24 balls. Sharma also made a vital contribution with an unbeaten 15-ball 32, which propelled PBKS to 214/5 after 20 overs.

However, that score did not prove enough as Abhishek Sharma blazed his way to 66 off 28 balls, and Heinrich Klaasen's 26-ball 42 helped SRH chase down the score of 215 runs with four wickets and five balls to spare.

The southpaw was adjudged the Player of the Match for his knock and also helped SRH climb to the second spot on the points table.

Jitesh Sharma chooses to field first on RCB captaincy debut

The 31-year-old said he had led in an IPL match only once before, which came against SRH in IPL 2024 while representing Punjab Kings (PBKS). He won the toss and elected to field first on Friday, May 23.

"It's my first time captaining RCB. I captained PBKS against SRH last year. We are thinking to bowl first, want to take most of the surface from the moisture. We are looking forward to finish the league on top of the table and enter the playoffs," Sharma said at the toss via Cricbuzz.