UP finished sixth in the seven-team Elite Group B in 2025-26, winning three and losing four of their seven matches for 12 points, and Sharma knows the side must convert its talent into consistency.

The all-rounder has been entrusted with the captaincy for the 2026 edition, with Uttar Pradesh opening their campaign against Rajasthan in Mumbai on November 14. The 18-member squad blends experience like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Mohsin Khan and Yash Dayal with younger players such as Madhav Kaushik, Aaradhya Yadav, Swastik Chikara and Prashant Veer.

Sharma is clear that he does not view leadership as a burden. “I don’t see it as pressure, I see it as an opportunity to see if we can win the trophy together after 10 years,” he said on Wednesday. “As a team, as a group, we try to think like that. Instead of thinking that it was 10 years ago, I think it is an opportunity for us again.”

His message to the squad is equally direct: build on momentum rather than be daunted by the tournament’s demands. “We played the last four matches of the T20, we had a lot of fun, the team did well, we won all four matches,” Sharma said. “We will continue to do the things that we have been doing right, with a better approach. It is a different tournament, a different ball game, but it will be more fun because it is our side.”

For Sharma personally, the ambition is simple. “There is only one thing in my mind: how can I win a match for UP? How can I contribute? Small contributions are sometimes big in matches,” he said. “As a group, our eyes are on the trophy. This time, it feels like it is our side. We will do something magical.”

Sharma’s own recent SMAT record has been mixed, which makes this campaign an important opportunity for him to lead from the front. In 2025-26, he made 59 runs in four innings at an average of 14.75 and a strike-rate of 118, with a top score of 21 against Madhya Pradesh as UP’s campaign ended in the group stage.

In 2024-25, he produced one of UP’s key innings in the preliminary quarter-final against Andhra, scoring 48 from 31 balls as Uttar Pradesh chased 157 and advanced. In 2023-24, UP reached the preliminary quarter-final, where Sharma fell for four against Gujarat, although Rinku Singh’s unbeaten 71 helped seal a six-wicket win.

Sharma arrives with strong local form. He was the leading run-scorer in the UPT20 League in 2026 with 361 runs, after topping the batting charts with 519 runs in 2025 and 606 in 2023. That sustained success in the state’s T20 competition has reinforced his conviction that UP has the personnel to compete at the highest domestic level.

“I get a very big opportunity to lead my side,” Sharma said. “You want to do well, you want to win a match for your team. I think my aim is to always play for the team, to win for the team, and to move the team forward.”

UP’s group includes Rajasthan, Karnataka, Baroda, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Bengal and Mizoram. Sharma’s challenge is to turn a talented, balanced squad into a cohesive unit capable of handling pressure across seven league games.