Mumbai, May 8 (TIWN): It's not always that one is able to outshine England's hard-hitter Liam Livingstone in a match. On Saturday, at the Wankhede Stadium, Punjab Kings' wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma was in smashing form as he clobbered the Rajasthan Royals bowlers for his unbeaten 38 off just 18 balls.

Though Punjab Kings still ended up losing the match despite scoring a competitive 189/5 batting first, effort-wise Jitesh Sharma's hurricane knock, embellished with four boundaries and two huge sixes at a strike rate in excess of 210, put to shade the efforts of his senior compatriot from England.

Sharma has emerged as a dependable middle-order batter for Punjab Kings, having scored 162 runs in nine matches at an average of 32-plus and a healthy strike-rate of 167, which puts him in the category of hard-hitters in the death overs, provided not many wickets have crumbled.

The 28-year-old Sharma credited his good batting performance this season to the backing of the PBKS team management and his Vidarbha coach.

"I think I am very lucky to have the full backing of the association (Vidarbha) I play for. My coach there, Pritam Gandhe, has supported me a lot. This is the first time I am playing in the middle order," Sharma, who was primarily an opener until less than a year ago, said.