Though Yashasvi Jaiswal’s stats are prolific, Sharma’s frenetic scoring rate, as seen in the Asia Cup, has made him India’s default choice at the top in T20Is
India’s Abhishek Sharma during the match against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Pic/AP, PTI
Yashasvi Jaiswal averages 36.15 in 22 Twenty20 International innings, at a wonderful strike-rate of 164.31. In his last nine innings, he has slammed three half-centuries and three other scores of 30-plus. Two of his last three knocks are a 21-ball 40 and a 15-ball 30, both on spin-friendly slow burners in Pallekele. Eighty-two of 440 T20I balls faced have been dispatched to the fence and 38 have scattered spectators in the stands; on average, he hits a boundary every 3.67 deliveries.
No T20s for Jaiswal in a year
Collectively, these paint the picture of a complete, destructive, modern-day T20 opener. And yet, the 23-year-old from Mumbai hasn’t represented the country in the 20-over format for 13 and a half months now.
During much of that period, he was left to concentrate on the five-day game, much like his Test skipper, Shubman Gill. But when the selectors did have the opportunity to select him for the T20 Asia Cup, they opted to look beyond him. To be more precise, they were compelled to do so because of the volume of Abhishek Sharma’s work.
A case can be made out for Jaiswal’s inclusion, sure, but how can one overlook the credentials of 25-year-old Abhishek? His left-arm spin, admittedly used only sparingly — he has only bowled 120 deliveries in 19 games — is an additional string but that alone hasn’t influenced his selection ahead of fellow left-hander Jaiswal. Abhishek is a veritable force of nature who makes even the stroke-filled Jaiswal look a little pedestrian. Since finding his mojo at Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2024 in the company of Travis Head at the top of the batting order, he has hit an extended purple patch that has netted him two T20I hundreds and seven centuries in all 20-over games.
Abhishek doesn’t just accrue runs, he does so at a frenetic, breakneck pace that immediately pushes oppositions on to the back foot. Already in this tournament, in his brief stints, his stroke-making has been exhilarating. Against UAE when India chased 58 for victory, he smashed the first ball of the innings, from left-arm spinner Haider Ali, over long-off for six and followed it up with a four over cover off the next. The order was reversed in the next outing against Pakistan, express left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi taken on the full and drilled to the straight field after which he was delightfully creamed over long-off for a delectable six.
Abhishek prefers the ‘V’
The perfect amalgam of timing and brute force, Abhishek’s USP is his target areas. He seldom resorts to crude hoicks, as he illustrated during his six-hitting fest against England in Mumbai in February, when 13 sixes cascaded off his willow during a frenzied 54-ball 135. Almost each of those was in the ‘V’, with his head down and right on top of the ball. Even in his seeming madness, there is great method; otherwise, how can one strike at 195.40 at an average of 33.11? How can one blast 52 fours and 46 sixes from 305 deliveries? How indeed?
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