Who is Himanshu Sharma? - All you need to know about RCB's surprise Impact Sub

Royal Challengers Bangalore sprang a surprise for their must-win IPL 2023 encounter against defending champions Gujarat Titans when they introduced a relatively unknown Himanshu Sharma as one of their Impact Players. The leg spinner, who replaced Karn Sharma in the team, came in as an Impact Sub in the second innings of the match.

Himanshu Sharma, who was picked at the auction for INR 20 lakh, was named as one of the five Impact Player subs alongside Suyash Prabhudessai, Finn Allen, Sonu Yadav and Akash Deep. The youngster, who was yet to play a professional match, caught the eye of RCB's scouting team, the 'Hinterland Scouting' system, ahead of the IPL 2023 auction.

Hailing from Sikar, a small town in Rajasthan, he wanted to be a batter in his initial days before switching to leg-spin bowling. The small-town boy idolized spin wizard Shane Warne and is a big fan of Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli. The hard-working cricketer has been following the Bangalore-based franchise since 2008 and finally got the chance to represent the side in the 16th edition of the tournament.

He was introduced in the bowling attack after the conclusion of the powerplay to provide a much-needed breakthrough for his side. He almost managed to get rid of Vijay Shankar in his very first over in competitive cricket as the ball missed the stumps by a whisker to run away to the boundary.