All posts tagged: Abhishek Sharma

Kris Srikkanth on Abhishek Sharma

Kris Srikkanth on Abhishek Sharma

Published by Webster

2 min readJul 27, 2026 05:05 PM IST Indian opener Abhishek Sharma failed to deliver in all three games against Zimbabwe in the series that concluded on Sunday. In all three of his innings, Sharma could not deal with Blessing Muzarambani and the bounce he created on placid surfaces. In the series before this against England and Ireland too, Abhishek did not look his usual self with the bat. Former Indian selector Kris Srikkanth said teams have started to figure out Abhishek and that Sanju Samson will return to the Indian side soon. “Abhishek Sharma has been sorted out (by opponents) in international cricket, right from the World Cup. I think a tough call has to be taken against him now. I feel Sanju will get his chance again now. He will receive a call back 100%. The selectors will have to take a tough call,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel. In his last 10 innings, Abhishek has registered only 191 runs with a solitary half-century. Notably, the southpaw has been …

India batter questions Sanju Samson’s T20I snub

India batter questions Sanju Samson’s T20I snub

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Jul 27, 2026 08:24 AM IST Abhishek Sharma’s prolonged run of poor scores has led to criticism of the team management for their ‘unfair’ preference for the left-handed opener over wicket-keeper Sanju Samson, who was dropped from the T20I squad ahead of the Zimbabwe series that concluded on Sunday. Out-of-favour India batter Hanuma Vihari questioned why Abhishek has received firm backing from the management while Samson was sidelined despite leading India to T20 World Cup glory with three back-to-back match-winning knocks. ALSO READ | Laxman on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: ‘His maturity has skyrocketed in last 6 months’ “Before the World Cup, Sanju Samson did not perform in five games and lost his spot in the starting 11. He then made a comeback and became Player of the Tournament. In that same tournament, how many runs did Abhishek Sharma make? “In the UK series, apart from one fifty, there were no scores at all. Not even 20s and 30s, no significant score. One fifty in the last eight matches. If you include the World …

String of poor returns sparks questions on how long Abhishek Sharma’s ‘longer rope’ is

String of poor returns sparks questions on how long Abhishek Sharma’s ‘longer rope’ is

Published by Webster

3 min readNew DelhiJul 25, 2026 06:05 PM IST Abhishek Sharma’s dismissal in India’s second T20I against Zimbabwe on Saturday was, paradoxically, both an anomaly and entirely familiar. An anomaly because of how it unfolded. Sharma – the world’s No. 1-ranked T20I batter not too long ago – meekly pushed a Blessing Muzarabani delivery straight to Ryan Burl at backward point. Stripped of context, it could easily have passed for a routine fielding drill. This manner of departure – on a whimper, and not aplomb – is not in synchronisation with the southpaw’s batting style. But while it seems like an exception in isolation, it was the 10th time in his last 17 T20Is that Sharma had fallen for 10 or fewer, raising fresh questions about how long the ‘longer rope’ the team management has given him is. Sharma’s form took a nosedive during the initial stages of this year’s T20 World Cup, wherein he was dismissed for a duck on three consecutive occasions. The rut effectively ended with a 55 against this very opposition, …

How Ravi Bishnoi resolved his no ball issue: Sunil Joshi explains

How Ravi Bishnoi resolved his no ball issue: Sunil Joshi explains

Published by Webster

Ravi Bishnoi did not need a major technical correction. He needed a small adjustment. After the leg-spinner’s no balls became one of the talking points during India’s T20I against England in Manchester, the focus was on finding a solution quickly. The issue was not his bowling action, India’s bowling coach Sunil Joshi explained, but his alignment during the run up. “He hasn’t changed anything in his action. He has re-aligned it in the run-up,” Joshi said ahead of the second T20I against Zimbabwe on Friday. The adjustment has shown initial results. Bishnoi, who did not play the rest of the series after the Manchester T20I, returned to bowling with greater control in Zimbabwe, claiming 1/24 in the first T20I on Thursday. Joshi revealed that India had worked closely with Bishnoi and also had conversations with the support staff, including regular bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule, to address the issue. “We’ve also communicated with Sairaj. So, we’ve had good conversations with him. And eventually, we’ve seen that he’s not even going close to the return crease also, …

IND vs ZIM 1st T20 Playing 11: Sooryavanshi in; India’s predicted XI today | Cricket News

IND vs ZIM 1st T20 Playing 11: Sooryavanshi in; India’s predicted XI today | Cricket News

Published by Webster

3 min readJul 23, 2026 10:29 AM IST After a bruising tour of England where they were swept 4-0 in a five-match T20 series, Shreyas Iyer’s Indian team starts its tour of Zimbabwe with plenty of intrigue over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The teenager was given three games to play against England where he managed scores of 15, 13 and 14 before he was dropped in favour of Sanju Samson. With Samson not being named in the side for the Zimbabwe tour, Sooryavanshi will be back in the XI, at the top of the batting. The Zimbabwe tour could be where he makes a strong case for himself after a tour of England where he became the youngest player to represent India in the second T20I in Manchester, but could only manage scores of 15, 13 and 14. At the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe, Sooryavanshi finds himself in familiar terrain: it was here he smashed 175 from just 80 balls in the final of the Under-19 World Cup as a 14-year-old against England. Hammering 15 sixes …

India coach on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi debut: ‘It’s not as straightforward’

India coach on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi debut: ‘It’s not as straightforward’

Published by Webster

India bowling coach Morne Morkel has reacted to the growing calls for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s international debut, saying the team management wanted to back the existing group before handing the 15-year-old his first cap. The former South Africa pacer said there was no intention to bat players out of position and that accommodating Sooryavanshi in the playing XI was not a straightforward decision. “I don’t think there are a lot of factors. We also need to respect the fact that we’ve got the No. 1 batter in T20 cricket, Abhishek Sharma. Sanju was the player of the World Cup and had a great IPL. “As a coaching staff, it’s only fair to show faith and back your players. Yes, there’s a young man knocking on the door, and it’s exciting, but I reckon not just for those two players at the top, but for the rest of the group, it’s a good sign that we show we back you guys. “At the end of the day, it’s about putting performances on the board. We also don’t …

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s time will come, but India’s call to stick with top 3 justified

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s time will come, but India’s call to stick with top 3 justified

Published by Webster

4 min readJul 1, 2026 11:38 PM IST Sanju Samson has been in this space before. In the months leading up to the T20 World Cup, when his form was fluctuating, he witnessed from the sidelines how Ishan Kishan, who was in wilderness at the time, emerged out of nowhere and came for his spot. Such was Ishan’s performance that after his century in Thiruvananthapuram, Samson recalled in a CSK podcast with Abhinav Mukund, “When he scored that hundred, I was like ‘Sanju now you just give it to him boss he deserves it more than you do. You got your chances, you didn’t score runs but there is someone who is in tremendous form’.” It has been six months since that game at his home ground. In between he won back his spot in the middle of the T20 World Cup and single-handedly powered them to a title with three stunning knocks. A mixed IPL came and went with Chennai Super Kings. And now after three outings in the middle so far in the …

Abhishek Sharma becomes fastest batter to hit 100 T20I sixes

Abhishek Sharma becomes fastest batter to hit 100 T20I sixes

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2 min readUpdated: Jul 1, 2026 10:36 PM IST Abhishek Sharma on Wednesday became the fastest batter to smash 100 sixes in T20Is during the first match between India and England. Abhishek opened the batting alongside Sanju Samson and walloped two maximums in 9 balls, reaching 100 sixes in T20Is in only 785 deliveries. The left-hander from Punjab surpassed West Indies’ Evin Lewis, who had smashed 100 sixes in 789 deliveries in his career. Among players from Full-Member nations, New Zealand’s Finn Allen ranks next, having reached the landmark in 871 balls in February earlier this year. Abhishek broke the Indian record held by former T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who had raced to 100 sixes in the format in 1007 deliveries. Abhishek (48 innings) stands the second-quickest to the feat in terms of innings, only behind Lewis (42). Having made his T20I debut for India in July 2024, Abhishek has emerged as the most explosive opening batter in the world in the previous World Cup cycle and ranks second in the ICC T20I Rankings for …

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s wait for India debut continues

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s wait for India debut continues

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Jul 1, 2026 10:22 PM IST The wait continues for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s international debut as India have stuck with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as openers in their first T20I against England. Captain Shreyas Iyer said that India will be playing with three spinners and two seamers with Axar Patel as a spin-bowling all-rounder. India come into the match on the back of a humiliating 2-0 defeat to Ireland. Both defeats came after India had won the toss and chosen to bowl first time. On Wednesday at Chester-le-Street, Iyer chose to bat. Captain Shreyas Iyer said that India will be playing with three spinners and two seamers with Axar Patel as a spin-bowling all-rounder. “Ireland is history. It’s a new series, five games, everything to play for. Certainly, this is a great opportunity for us. This is my first, second actually, second series as a captain. So, pretty much excited,” said Iyer at the toss. “There’s pretty decent amount of grass on the wicket. We practiced yesterday as well on the same …

Ishan Kishan rises to No.1 in T20I rankings, ends Abhishek Sharma’s long reign

Ishan Kishan rises to No.1 in T20I rankings, ends Abhishek Sharma’s long reign

Published by Webster

2 min readJul 1, 2026 09:40 PM IST Ishan Kishan is the new top-ranked T20I batsman in the world, thus ending his teammate Abhishek Sharma’s stay in the position despite India suffering a historic 2-0 series loss to Ireland. It marks yet another milestone in a remarkable turnaround in Kishan’s career, with the wicketkeeper-batter having been frozen out of the Indian team for more than two years before making his comeback last year and playing a crucial role in them defending their T20 World Cup crown. The International Cricket Council said that Kishan’s rise comes largely due to his performance in the tournament, having scored 317 runs at a strike rate of almost 200. It thus ended a year-long stay at the top for Abhishek and Kishan has now become the fourth Indian to take the top spot in the T20I rankings, with Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav being the other two players in the club. “There are only seven rating points separating the two Indian players at the top of the rankings for T20I …