Abhishek Sharma joins MS Dhoni on this unwanted list: Details
Abhishek Sharma has made a forgettable start to his International career. The dashing opening batter was dismissed for a four-ball duck during in the T20I series opener against Zimbabwe on Saturday. His failure at the top hurt the Indian team as they failed to chase down 116 in Harare. Notably, Abhishek became the fourth Indian to bag a duck on his T20I debut.
Abhishek fell to Bennett
Abhishek took the strike at the start of India's innings. The first three balls were dot deliveries as the southpaw went for a big shot on the fourth one. It was a half-tracker on the middle from pacer Brian Bennett as Abhishek looked to heave it away over deep mid-wicket. However, the connection was far from proper as Wellington Masakadza took a fine catch.
Abhishek joins Dhoni and others
Abhishek is now among the four Indians with ducks on T20I debuts. MS Dhoni was the first one to do so as he bagged a two-ball duck in the 2006 Johannesburg game against SA. KL Rahul registered a golden duck in the 2016 Harare T20I against Zimbabwe. Prithvi Shaw was also out for a golden duck in the 2021 Colombo match against Sri Lanka.
Abhishek awarded following a dream IPL 2024
Notably, Abhishek received a Team India call-up following a dream run for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2024 Indian Premier League. The southpaw scored 484 runs at 32.27 as his strike rate (204.22) was the best among batters with 350-plus runs. He struck three fifties. Abhishek smashed the most sixes this season (42). No other Indian has tallied even 40 maximums in an IPL edition.
How did the first T20I pan out?
A brilliant four-fer from Ravi Bishnoi meant the hosts were restricted to 115/9 while batting first. In response, India lost wickets at regular intervals as they eventually got folded for just 102. Sikandar Raza and Tendai Chatara claimed three wickets apiece. Shubman Gill (31) and Washington Sundar (27) were the only Indian batters to touch the 20-run mark.
