T20 Asia Cup 2025: Abhishek Sharma didn’t just teach Shaheen Afridi a lesson but the entire Pakistan team and support staff. The swashbuckling opener’s role is clear: give India the best possible start. And time and again, Abhishek does that. In the India vs Pakistan match, the left-handed batter performed what Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir instructed him to do.
Abhishek Sharma teaches Pakistan a valuable lesson
Chasing just 128, Abishek wanted to kill the game in the powerplay itself. 10 runs were already wiped off the target as he stepped down to hit Shaheen down the ground on the first ball. A lofted shot over the covers followed that. Saim Ayub got Shubman Gill in the next over, but that didn’t affect Abhishek at all.
In Shaheen’s second over, he once again smacked him for two boundaries. He faced just 2.1 overs and scored 31 runs. For context, Pakistan scored 42 runs in their powerplay (6 overs). He faced just 8 balls from Shaheen, Pakistan’s sure-shot wicket-taker in the powerplay, and scored 22 runs off him.
Saim, who eventually got him out, bowled 5 balls at him, but Abhishek didn’t want to spare him either. The southpaw still managed to hit him for 9 runs and two boundaries, including the shot he got out on. That’s his job, and Pakistani openers have to learn from him.
India doesn’t want Abhishek to score 50 runs from 35 balls. His job’s simple: smack the ball out of the park. Score a quickfire 30 and get a flying start. That’s exactly why he averaged around 33 but has a strike rate of 194 in T20Is. Maybe Pakistan’s head coach, Mike Hesson, needs to have a word with Saim and Sahibzada Farhan, telling one of them to play like Abhishek does.
