- Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma’s explosive innings of 79 runs off 34 balls in the first T20I against England has almost ended the career of these two dreaded openers.
Abhishek Sharma: On January 22, the first match of the five-match T20I series between India and England was played at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. In this match, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bowl first, but the English team, batting first, collapsed for 132 runs in 20 overs.
While chasing the target of 133 runs, Team India’s opening batsman Abhishek Sharma took the England bowlers to task and played a stormy innings of 79 runs in just 34 balls. After this innings of Abhishek, the career of two dreaded openers of Team India has come to an end. Now their return to Team India has become not only difficult but impossible.
Abhishek played a stormy innings
Source: Google Image
Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma got the chance to play the first ball in the third over of the Indian innings. He was in the mood to put pressure on the English bowler from the very first ball and he did the same. Once he got his eyes set, he took on the great bowlers like Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, and Adil Rasheed and started teaching them a lesson one by one.
Abhishek Sharma, who is in great form, completed his fifty in just 20 balls and scored a total of 79 runs in 34 balls. This dashing batsman hit 8 sixes and 5 fours in his innings of 79 before getting out. While he thrashed the English bowlers at a strike rate of 232.35.
It is difficult for these 2 players to return
Abhishek Sharma is constantly playing attacking cricket for Team India as well as playing good innings. After this, his opening slot in the T20I team has almost been confirmed. While the return of Ishan Kishan and Prithvi Shaw, who are in line for the opening slot, has now become a little more difficult than before. Both these players have been out for a long time and their performance in domestic cricket has not been as impressive as was expected from them.
Prithvi Shaw was not even included in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 squad by the Mumbai Cricket Association due to indiscipline, after which he was out of this tournament. After Shaw’s continuous poor performance, his path to return to the team is becoming more difficult, while Ishan Kishan is also continuously performing poorly in domestic cricket. To make a comeback in Team India, now both these players will have to compete with Abhishek Sharma for the opening slot.