The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been true to its tagline "Where Talent Meets Opportunity" over 16 years of its runtime as it has made the lives of young players, who were waiting for an opportunity to show the world at the big stage of what they can do and fast-tracked them to the national side as well. However, there's another side to it given all the players getting into the limelight are not able to make it big and hence disappear into oblivion as quickly.
There have been many such stories in the past and one of those players was Delhi off-spinner Shivam Sharma, who played in the IPL in a couple of seasons in 2014 and 2015 for the then Kings XI Punjab. Sharma played five games and took four wickets playing for the Punjab franchise. However, it's been nine years, the now 30-year-old cricketer is nowhere around the IPL scene, also because he last played professionally in 2021, a List-A game for Delhi.
Sharma wrote an emotional post on Twitter (now X) saying that he didn't have answer to his parents' question regarding if and when he would play IPL again but mentioned that he will continue to follow his mother's advice of putting in the hard work.
"It was emotional for me when my parents asked me today if i would play IPL again now, I didn't know what to answer. However then, Mom insisted that i must continue my hard work and must be grateful to God for each & everything and rewards will be reaped again for sure," Sharma wrote.
Sharma will be sorely disappointed with not being looked at by the IPL franchises. However, his only way back to the tournament will be regular performances in domestic cricket and if he is able to impress the scouts, may be he could find his place back.
