IPL 2024: Who is Himanshu Sharma? – Everything you need to know about Royal Challenger Bengaluru’s mystery spinner

In a crazy bit of co-incidence, Himanshu Sharma and Virat Kohli seem to be interwoven somehow. It was during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru versus Gujarat Titans IPL 2023 game that Himanshu Sharma made his debut. Virat Kohli had scored a century that day but his efforts went in vain as Shubman Gill replied with a ton of his own to knock RCB out of the tournament.

On Saturday, Himanshu Sharma took to the field once again to play his second IPL game as an Impact Player. The 25-year-old had replaced debutant Saurav Chauhan who had scored nine runs from six balls. Virat Kohli had scored his eighth IPL ton to help RCB post 183 runs on the board.

The fans may have missed the non-descript debut of Himanshu Sharma during IPL 2023. Himanshu Sharma had the netizens scratching their heads and wondering who exactly this player is.

Himanshu Sharma: An unknown star who made it big

When the name Himanshu Sharma came up during the IPL 2023 auctions, everyone were taken aback. The youngster had hardly played any domestic cricket and Royal Challenger Bengaluru paid INR 20 lakh for him. 

Upon further investigation, it came to light that Royal Challengers Bengaluru had relied on a different tactic to scout the player. According to Malolan Rangarajan, the RCB team had taken the use of an Artificial Intelligence system called as ‘Hinterland Scouting’. 

This was a huge surprise as Himanshu Sharma had hardly played any domestic cricket. It also came to light that the youngster belongs to Rajasthan and was born in a town called Sikar. In his debut game versus Gujarat Titans, the right-arm wirst spinner bowled three overs and gave away 28 runs. 

Rajasthan are yet to blood him in any of their teams and his domestic experience still stands at nil. This is the first time in cricket history that a use of technology has been used to scout a player. According to many in the RCB camp, the young spinner is very talented and has a bright future on his hands. If he can perform well, just maybe Himanshu Sharma could carve a glorious path for himself and even make it to the national team.