Rampura, a village outside Jaipur, is where a young boy\u2019s joke sounds like a warning and a promise at the same time. When asked where Ashok Sharma\u2014India\u2019s new pace attraction\u2014lives, he laughs and says, \u201cHis car can make it through, yours will too.\u201d For the Sharma family, though, getting to the house is not a simple matter of distance. After a sudden exit on the Delhi\u2013Mumbai expressway, the road turns into a dusty stretch and then vanishes into narrow lanes where hurried railway crossings must be negotiated with care. The journey makes you feel exactly why people say \u201cfasten your seatbelts,\u201d because the world here is separated by far more than geography\u2014it\u2019s a divide you can see.<\/p>\n
Akshay Sharma, Ashok\u2019s elder brother, welcomes visitors at the gate and explains that the location pin on maps stops a few hundred metres short of the residence. To reach the home, you have to manoeuvre through tight turns, often with little space to spare. The village itself captures the real texture of rural Rajasthan: double-storey houses, household coolers treated like prized possessions, and roads that still haven\u2019t arrived in the way they have in cities. Yet Akshay insists the family stays for one reason above all\u2014peace.<\/p>\n
\u201cSukoon hai idhar,\u201d he says, adding that Ashok feels the same. Everything that matters to them, from cricket to the habit of chasing speed, began here. Akshay remembers how his brother always repeats a line that sounds simple but carries weight: whatever happens, they won\u2019t abandon their ancestral village. As dust settles in the courtyard, the Sharma home keeps a charpai area under the shade of two neem trees, with enough space to host guests comfortably. Birds and quiet fill the background, turning the front yard into a small, familiar sanctuary.<\/p>\n
It is unusual to find a contemporary Indian cricketer\u2014someone who has already played Ranji Trophy and then stepped into the IPL\u2014still living in his village full-time. With the modern money of Indian cricket, especially after the IPL became the sport\u2019s biggest stage, a luxury lifestyle is often the default. Ashok Sharma has chosen another route. He focuses on performance rather than display, and his brother says he doesn\u2019t chase frills at all.<\/p>\n
Akshay describes Ashok\u2019s routine in detail: he wakes up at 5, runs at the ground, then trains for around three hours before returning home at 8. After that, he sleeps again. Diet has also become a serious priority, particularly after a knee injury during his time with Kolkata Knight Riders. Akshay adds that his younger brother would trade a five-star lifestyle for the calm and control of home without hesitation. Even his meals are plain and familiar\u2014homemade food\u2014and in Ashok\u2019s current training plan, recovery and sleep are treated as equals to bowling work.<\/p>\n
As the conversation continues, their father Nathulal Sharma joins from an electric scooter\u2014an unexpected gift from his younger son. Wearing a shirt torn at the edges and trousers marked with mud, he has just returned from field work and pauses on the charpai to catch his breath. With the wheat harvest underway, he smiles and says, \u201cGehun ki katai chal rahi hai.\u201d A little later, Ashok\u2019s mother, Lali Devi, brings out chaanch in a traditional steel glass. The drink\u2019s thickness and the right mix of home spices make it refreshing with the first sip, and she keeps everyone topped up. She then adds that both Akshay and Ashok particularly enjoy it\u2014especially after hours of cricket.<\/p>\n
In the Sharma household, cricket isn\u2019t a distant dream; it\u2019s the family\u2019s language. Akshay has always been Ashok\u2019s model, planting the early idea of fast bowling in him. The brothers grew up learning how to unsettle batters, first as play in nearby fields and then as something more intense\u2014an obsession with hearing the speed gun and chasing the numbers. Akshay recalls how he felt when batters got scared, describing it as a satisfaction that made him believe something meaningful had been achieved.<\/p>\n
For the Sharma brothers, fast bowling seemed to come naturally, fed by stories from the village itself. They had heard about an uncle, Ram Dayal Sharma, once known as a fearsome quick. Ram Dayal still lives in the opposite house, and Akshay says he would be proud to see his nephew carrying the same intimidating tradition forward. Akshay admits he never truly watched his uncle bowl\u2014Ram Dayal had stopped cricket long ago\u2014but the family heard he was quick and used to receive special invitations to play in neighbouring villages. He even had long hair, and Akshay compares his look to MS Dhoni. Nathulal, sitting nearby and watching over his two-year-old granddaughter Raja, lights up when that name is mentioned, adding that both sons have followed the path laid down before them.<\/p>\n
To the family, Ashok is living out the dreams that remained unfinished for his brother and his uncle. On March 30, they learned that Ashok\u2014after his earlier stints with Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals\u2014would make his IPL debut for Gujarat Titans. The excitement pushed them into motion immediately. They drove to Chandigarh, around 450 km away, arriving just in time to watch Ashok play live for the first time. Akshay says they had been to the stadium before because Ashok had once given them passes while he was with Rajasthan Royals, but this time felt different because the moment belonged to Ashok directly.<\/p>\n
The next day, Ashok invited his family to Ahmedabad for Gujarat\u2019s second match. Instead of flying, they chose the train, taking nearly 10 hours from Jaipur. When asked whether Nathulal had ever travelled by flight, he gives a gentle nod of \u201cnot yet,\u201d and Akshay jokes that Nathulal is afraid to fly. Lali Devi, listening quietly, joins in with a promise: one day, they will absolutely travel by plane. For the village, Ashok has become a superstar. People direct anyone to his house because he is one of their own. But for Nathulal and Lali Devi, he remains the mischievous child they\u2019ve known for years.<\/p>\n
Nathulal sums it up with humour: if Akshay was calm, then Ashok was mischievous. Akshay agrees quickly, saying he used to bunk school and always found strange reasons to leave early. Lali Devi adds that Ashok spent \u201cthe whole day breaking things,\u201d recalling that because of him, Akshay often ended up getting beaten. Akshay smiles and adds a sharper detail\u2014there was even a time their father hit him with a belt because of Ashok\u2019s antics. Despite all the trouble, Ashok is still the favourite among the siblings, largely because his energy is impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
Akshay remembers another moment from 2023 when Ashok was with KKR near the end of the season. Asked what he wanted for his birthday, Ashok didn\u2019t hesitate. He said he wanted a Thar, and if he didn\u2019t get it, he wouldn\u2019t come home. The family laughs at the memory now, and the dream car has since become a visible symbol outside their house\u2014an instant attraction for the village children. Given the condition of the local roads, an off-road capable vehicle makes practical sense, and the family remains grateful to Vivek Yadav, a former Ranji Trophy cricketer, who guided Ashok early and was impressed by his pace right away.<\/p>\n
Akshay explains that in 2019, when Ashok was 17, he took him to the Aravali Cricket Academy. Vivek Yadav was impressed despite Ashok being somewhat erratic at that stage, and instead of holding him back, he placed him straight into the senior group. He also says Vivek advised Ashok to stay at the academy, which helped him become a better cricketer.<\/p>\n
Then the Covid pandemic changed everything. Lockdown forced Ashok back home, and the road outside their house became his training ground. The biggest blow arrived on May 5, 2021, when Vivek Yadav\u2014described as a two-time Ranji Trophy champion with Rajasthan\u2014passed away due to complications. In 2023, when Ashok was again with KKR and the season was nearing its end, Akshay asked what he wanted for his birthday. The answer returned instantly: Ashok wanted a Thar, and he repeated that if it wasn\u2019t bought, he wouldn\u2019t come home.<\/p>\n
Akshay recalls that after that, Ashok barely spoke for weeks. The family thought the dream was gone. No one knew their situation, and they felt helpless. But then Vikas\u2014linked to the academy\u2014called and assured them that he would fulfil his brother\u2019s desire, explaining that the academy would do everything possible to help Ashok reach his potential.<\/p>\n
When Gujarat Titans picked Ashok for \u20b990 lakh last year, he shared an emotional message about his mentor. He said it was the last time he cried, believing his career was over. He also said Vivek wanted him to play for India, and that Vivek used to tell him, \u201cYou will play for India very soon, and you will be playing top-level cricket very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ashok, the road ahead toward that dream will still be long. But at 23, the fast bowler understands what patience and perseverance truly mean\u2014because he is already at the start of the next phase. At the Aravali Cricket Academy, coaches Vikas Yadav, Jagminder Singh, and others remain hopeful that Ashok will honour Vivek Yadav\u2019s dream. Back in Rampura, Akshay\u2014who paused his own cricket journey for Ashok\u2014hopes success will eventually bring something bigger than a personal milestone. He wants a proper road to finally reach their village, believing Ashok\u2019s rise could be the moment India\u2019s long wait for a genuine, all-out fast bowler finally begins to move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rampura, a village outside Jaipur, is where a young boy\u2019s joke sounds like a warning and a promise at the same time. When asked where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL Pace Star Ashok Sharma\u2019s 150 km\/h Dream in Jaipur","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Ashok Sharma\u2019s Jaipur journey isn\u2019t paved\u2014exploring how roadblocks and railway crossings shape India\u2019s 150 km\/h pace dream in IPL.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n