You can not be an ordinary cricketer if you lead your state to Vijay Hazare final in your debut domestic season, such is the tale of Karan Sharma. The right-handed batsman from Uttar Pradesh is also a part-time off-spinner. During the auction for the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the youngster was picked by Chennai Super Kings. 

The promising batter has grabbed a lot of limelight in a very short span of time. The right-hander made his domestic debut for Uttar Pradesh during the 2020-21 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He had his first outing against Punjab, where he could perform well. As the tournament progressed, he started impressing and played a few impressive knocks, including two fifties. 

After playing the domestic T20, he made debut in the List-A format during the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Sharma played his maiden 50-over game against Karnataka where he scored a vital 40 for a winning cause. Later in the tournament, he played some crucial knocks and also led his state team in the knockouts phase in the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The promising batsman scored 83 runs off 100 balls in the quarterfinal game against Delhi and led Uttar Pradesh to the final, before losing to Mumbai. 

In February 2021, when Karan Sharma was playing the Vijay Hazare competition, he was bought by IPL’s second-most successful franchise (CSK) for the 14th edition of the Indian T20 festival. The promising youngster would be playing under the leadership of MS Dhoni, who is known for taking the best out of the players. Hence, Sharma would be learning a lot to take his game to the next level. 

(As of March 2021)