For the film character played by Shah Rukh Khan, see Baazigar.
Ajay Sharma
CountryIndia
FullnameAjay Sharma
Birth date3 April 1964 (age 62)
Birth placeDelhi, India
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
RoleBatsman
FamilyManan Sharma (son)
Internationaltrue
Onetesttrue
Testdebutdate11 January
Testdebutyear1988
TestdebutforIndia
TestdebutagainstWest Indies
Testcap182
Odidebutdate2 January
Odidebutyear1988
OdidebutforIndia
OdidebutagainstWest Indies
Odicap64
Lastodidate16 November
Lastodiyear1998
LastodiforIndia
LastodiagainstWest Indies
Club 1Delhi
Year 11984–2000
Club 2Himachal Pradesh
Year 22000–2001
Columns4
Column 1Test
Matches 11
Runs 153
Bat avg 126.5
100s/50s 10/0
Top score 130
Deliveries 124
Wickets 10
Bowl avg 1–
Fivefor 1–
Tenfor 1–
Best bowling 1–
Catches/stumpings 10/–
Column 2ODI
Matches 231
Runs 2424
Bat avg 220.19
100s/50s 20/3
Top score 259
Deliveries 21,140
Wickets 215
Bowl avg 258.33
Fivefor 20
Tenfor 20
Best bowling 23/41
Catches/stumpings 226/–
Column 3FC
Matches 3129
Runs 310,120
Bat avg 367.46
100s/50s 338/36
Top score 3259*
Deliveries 36,438
Wickets 387
Bowl avg 331.01
Fivefor 31
Tenfor 30
Best bowling 35/34
Catches/stumpings 394/–
Column 4LA
Matches 4113
Runs 42,814
Bat avg 436.07
100s/50s 42/20
Top score 4135*
Deliveries 43,985
Wickets 4108
Bowl avg 428.37
Fivefor 42
Tenfor 40
Best bowling 45/30
Catches/stumpings 443/–

Ajay Kumar Sharma (pronunciation) (born 3 April 1964) is a former Indian cricketer.

Sharma was a prolific run-maker in first-class cricket, mainly for Delhi, scoring over 10,000 runs, at an average of 67.46.[1] He was a part of the Indian squad which won the 1988 Asia Cup.

Domestic career

In the Ranji Trophy, Sharma scored a record 31 centuries[2] and his batting average of approximately 80 in the competition is second only to Vijay Merchant.[3][4] In the 1996–97 season, he became only the third player to score over 1,000 runs in a Ranji Trophy season. He played in six Ranji Trophy finals for Delhi, scoring centuries in four of them, but only twice ended up on the winning side (1985–86 and 1991–92). Sharma also regularly represented North Zone in the Duleep Trophy.

International career

Despite his strong domestic record, Sharma only played one Test match for India - against the West Indies in January 1988.[5] He played 31 One Day Internationals for India from 1988 to 1993.

In December 1988, he scored back-to-back fifties against New Zealand, but he did not reach those heights again except for a 59 not out (his highest ODI score) against Zimbabwe in March 1993.[6] He finished with 424 runs at a batting average of 20.19. Sharma also took 15 wickets using his left-arm spin with a best of 3/41 against Australia in October 1989.[7]

Life ban

In 2000, aged 36, his career ended when he received a life ban from cricket after he was implicated in a match-fixing scandal.[8][9]

In September 2014, Sharma was cleared from all charges related to match-fixing by Delhi district court and has asked the BCCI to allow him to take part in the board's activities and those of its associates.[10][11]

He retired from active cricket and is now invested in running multiple franchises of laundry and dry-cleaning brand UClean in Delhi NCR and Punjab.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ajay Sharma (CricketArchive)". Retrieved 2006-06-09.
  2. ^ Ranji Trophy - Most Hundreds CricketArchive
  3. ^ Ajay Sharma in elite company ESPNcricinfo
  4. ^ Breakup of Ajay Sharma's first-class statistics ESPNcricinfo
  5. ^ 4th Test: India v West Indies at Chennai, 11-15 January 1988 ESPNcricinfo
  6. ^ Ajay Sharma - ODI innings-by-innings batting list Statsguru, ESPNcricinfo
  7. ^ India v Australia at Bangalore, 27 October 1989 ESPNcricinfo
  8. ^ "Ajay Sharma"
  9. ^ "Padiham withdraw Sharma contract"
  10. ^ "Ajay Sharma cleared in match-fixing case"
  11. ^ "Remembering KP Bhaskar"