Rajkumar Sharma Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rajkumar Sharma

• Rajkumar Sharma is a former Indian cricket player-turned-coach. He played for the Delhi cricket team between 1986 and 1991.

• On 13 December 1986, he made his debut for Delhi against the Services cricket team in the 1986-1987 season of the Ranji Trophy.

• Sharma took seven wickets at an average of 38.00 between 13 December 1986 and 21 February 1987; Hyderabad defeated Delhi in the final of the 1986-1987 season of the Ranji Trophy.

• He was named to the playing eleven against the Pakistanis team on 28 February 1987 during the Pakistan tour of India. In the first innings, he took one wicket from 13 overs and scored six runs; he took two wickets in the second innings.

• He played three List-A matches for the Delhi cricket team between 12 March 1989 and 18 March 1989 in the 1988-1989 season of the Wills One-Day Trophy. In the quarter-final match against Tamil Nadu on 12 March 1989 he took two wickets at an economy of 3.30. Delhi defeated the Railways cricket team in the final by eight wickets; he bowled ten overs at an economy of 3.80. This was his final appearance in the List-A matches.

• In an interview, Virat Kohli labelled Rajkumar as his mentor and a guiding influence.
  

  A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma and Virat Kohli

• In 1988, he was named to the Delhi team for the 1988-1989 season of the Ranji Trophy. On 22 March 1989, he scored seven runs against the Bengal team in the final of the tournament. Delhi defeated the Bengal team by an innings and 210 runs.

• The cricketer was named to the Delhi team for the 1990-1991 season of the Ranji Trophy; this was his final season with the Delhi team. On 12 January 1991, he was named to the playing eleven for the match against Punjab and in the first innings, he scored 15 runs and took one wicket; this was his highest score in the competition. In the second innings, he bowled seven overs but did not bat; this was his last appearance in first-class cricket and the Ranji trophy.

• He played eight first-class matches for the Delhi cricket team in the Ranji Trophy between 15 December 1986 and 12 January 1991.

• In 1998, Sharma started his cricket academy, West Delhi Cricket Academy, in Paschim Vihar, Delhi. Later, he opened three more branches of the academy in various parts of Delhi. Virat Kohli was one of the first students who enrolled at his academy; Virat was about ten years old when he joined the academy on 30 May 1998.
  

  A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma with the students of the West Delhi Cricket Academy

• In an interview, he revealed that Virat stood out from the rest of the pupils from the beginning and labelled him as a hardworking and disciplined child. He added that he and Kohli shared a cordial relationship since the former Indian skipper started training under him and said he was like a son to him.
  

  A newspaper article about Rajkumar Sharma’s cricket academy

• Virat Kohli gifted him a Skoda Rapid car on 5 September 2014 as a surprise Teacher’s Day gift for Sharma.

• On 29 August 2016, then-President Pranab Mukherjee presented him with the Dronacharya Award during the Sports and Adventure Awards 2016 at the Rastrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
  

  A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma receiving the Dronacharya Award from Pranab Mukherjee

• In 2017, Sharma was named the coach of the Delhi junior team. Under his leadership, they won the CK Nayudu Under-23 Trophy in the 2017-18 season; he promoted players like Hiten Dalal to the senior squad.

• He served as a junior coach and selector under the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) for almost 18 years between 2001 and 2019; he also worked with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

• Later, he worked as a cricket analyst at India TV.

• In March 2019, he was named the head coach of the Malta national team for an ICC qualifying tournament held in Spain. Malta faced Spain and Estonia in a three-nation divisional tournament of the ICC from 29 March 2019 to 31 March 2019. In the opening match of the Spain triangular T20I series, Malta defeated Estonia by 13 runs.

• He was appointed as the Delhi Ranji team’s bowling coach in 2019 ahead of the 2019-2020 season.
  

  A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma with the Delhi Ranji team

• On 20 December 2020, he was appointed as the Delhi Ranji team’s head coach for the 2020-2021 season. He was retained as the head coach ahead of the 2021-2022 season on 14 August 2021. Later, he was removed from the position of head coach following the team’s poor performance in the domestic campaign. Later, he was named the bowling coach of the Delhi team.

• In December 2017, he was one of the people who were invited to the wedding ceremony of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma.
  

  A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma and his wife at the wedding ceremony of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma

• In 2021, after Virat was removed from the captaincy of India by the BCCI, the cricketer’s coach criticised the BCCI and alleged that they did not maintain transparency and questioned the manner they changed the national team captain.

• On 6 May 2023, Rajkumar attended the IPL league match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC). Virat met with his coach ahead of the match and sought his blessings; Sharma rang the bell to kickstart the match between RCB and DC.

Parampara, Pratishtha, Anushasan ❤️

Virat Kohli greets his childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma 🙏#DCvRCB #TATAIPL #IPLonJioCinema #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/1kdMnG9c63

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) May 6, 2023

• The Indian Air Force honoured him by presenting a memento on 9 November 2022; Wing Commander Prasad handed over the memento on behalf of the force.
  

  A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma with the Indian Air Force officials