World No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma is leading Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025, but for the second match in a row, the 25-year-old left-handed batter from Amritsar has failed to impress with his batting. In fact, on Friday (November 28), when his team needed him to play a big knock in the 208-run chase against Haryana at Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad, he got out for just 6 runs from five balls.
He was bowled by Anshul Kamboj on the fourth ball of the third over of the run chase. Before returning back to the pavilion, Abhishek hammered one four and added 27 runs in 2.2 overs for the first wicket with Prabhsimran Singh. The wicketkeeper-batter, who made headlines with his performances in IPL 2025 for Punjab Kings, also failed
to do much on Friday and got out after scoring 20 runs from 10 balls with the help of one four and two sixes.
Abhishek, who is all set to be picked in India’s T20I team for the five-match series against South Africa next month, has failed to play an impactful knock in the last four competitive matches.
In Punjab’s first match of SMAT 2025, he got out for just 4 runs against Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, and in the three unofficial ODIs for India A against South Africa A, he scored 31, 32 and 11 runs.
Abhishek had a great chance to earn a place in India’s ODI team for the home series against South Africa, but he failed to capitalise on the opportunity that came his way during the A series.
Maharashtra batter Ruturaj Gaikwad scored one century and one half-century for India A against South Africa A in Rajkot, and as a result, he was added to India’s ODI squad as a replacement for injured Shubman Gill.
Nishant Sindhu impress
While Abhishek failed to do much with the bat in the ongoing Haryana-Punjab match, Nishant Sindhu impressed with his batting in the first half. The young all-rounder came out to bat at No. 3 and scored 61 runs from 32 balls. He hammered 8 fours and 3 sixes and added 74 runs for the second wicket with captain Ankit Kumar, who made 51 runs from 26 balls (5 fours, 4 sixes).
After Ankit’s dismissal, he added 62 runs for the third wicket with wicketkeeper Yashvardhan Dalal.
