Abhishek Sharma bagged a four-ball duck in India's crucial T20 World Cup 2026 clash against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo as the opener failed to impress.
Abhishek was dismissed in the first over by Salman Ali Agha after Pakistan opted to bowl first. With the pitch looking slow, the opener miscued a stroke to mid-on with Shaheen Shah Afridi taking an easy catch.
Abhishek joins unwanted list
With his duck, Abhishek has entered a list of unwanted cricketers as he has now opened his T20 World Cup with back-to-back ducks. The opener was dismissed for a golden duck in India's tournament opener against the USA.
Abhishek has become just the third player among full members to have bagged ducks in their first two T20 World Cup matches. He joins the list that features only former India bowler Ashish Nehra and e-Bangladesh player Imrul Kayes.
India asked to bat first by Pakistan
India were asked to bat first by Pakistan in their clash in Colombo. The Men in Blue made two changes, with Abhishek coming in for Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh making way for Kuldeep Yadav. "Not at all, we were looking to bat first. We won the last two games defending, so we don't want to change it. It is an occasion, it's a high-stakes game. This sport teaches you a lot of things; any side can win the game on a given day. Two changes. Abhishek Sharma comes in, and Kuldeep Yadav is in for Arshdeep Singh," India captain Suryakumar Yadav said at the toss.
"We want to bowl first. It looks a bit tacky, so we feel it will assist the bowlers for the first few overs, so we want to use that. It's a big game. We all know that. But in our group we all are very, very relaxed now. And we're just focusing on the game and we're very excited for this challenge. Bigger ground than SSC and the pitch is slower than SSC. But we have been playing on these kind of pitches for the last six months. So we have an idea how to play on these pitches as well. Same team for us," Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha had said.
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Khan(w), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq
