Colombo’s electric atmosphere turned tense as Abhishek Sharma’s T20 World Cup nightmare continued against arch-rivals Pakistan. Fresh off missing the Namibia game due to illness, the Indian opener lasted mere four balls, out for zero via a catch by Shaheen Afridi off skipper Salman Agha.
This is Abhishek’s third successive failure to score in the tournament—first ball out against USA previously. Zooming out, four ducks plague his last six T20I knocks, despite a standout 68 not out against New Zealand. Overall, just 98 runs from those innings underline inconsistency plaguing the 25-year-old.
Team India tweaked the XI with Abhishek in for Sanju Samson and Kuldeep Yadav replacing Arshdeep Singh, under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy. The full squad: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan stuck with their winning combination: Salman Agha (c), Sam Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan (wk), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmad, Usman Tariq.
India holds a 7-1 edge in T20Is over Pakistan. At this venue, batting first has been key in recent World Cup ties, bucking earlier trends where chasers triumphed in eight straight.
As pressure mounts on Abhishek, can he rediscover his IPL flair to salvage India’s campaign?