Abhishek Sharma bags his second successive failure in SMAT 2025
What's the story
World's top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma has bagged his second successive failure in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025. Leading Punjab, the Amritsar-born left-handed batsman was dismissed for a mere six runs off five balls against Haryana on Friday. This was his second consecutive poor performance in the tournament, after scoring just four runs in Punjab's opener against Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday.
Performance review
Abhishek's recent performances and future prospects
Abhishek's recent form has been disappointing, with scores of 31, 32, and 11 in three unofficial ODIs for India A against South Africa A. He had a golden opportunity to secure a spot in India's ODI team for the upcoming home series against South Africa, but failed to make the most of it during the A series. In contrast, Maharashtra's Ruturaj Gaikwad impressed with a century and a half-century in the series. He subsequently earned a Team India recall.
Stats
Over 4,500 runs in T20Is
It must be noted that Abhishek has become India's mainstay opener in T20Is since his debut last year. Coming to his T20 numbers, he owns 4,521 runs from 160 matches at an average of 32.06. His strike rate is a stunning 167.94 as his tally includes seven tons and 26 fifties. Four of his tons and 1,559 of his runs have come in SMAT at 36.25. No other batter has more than three tons in the competition.
T20I stats
Most T20I runs since debut
Earlier this month, Abhishek set a new world record by becoming the fastest player to score 1,000 T20I runs in terms of balls faced (among full-member teams). He reached the milestone in just 528 balls. Overall, he has raced to 1,012 runs from 29 games at an average of 37.48. His tally includes two tons besides six fifties (SR: 189.51). Notably, no other full-member team batsman has scored more T20I runs than Abhishek since his debut.
Player spotlight
Haryana prevailed in the Super Over
While Abhishek struggled with the bat, star batter Anmolpreet Singh stole the show for Punjab against Haryana. Batting at No. 3, he scored an impressive 81 runs off just 37 balls. Despite his brilliance, the game got tied with both teams managing 207 runs. Haryana later prevailed in the Super Over. Yuzvendra Chahal claimed a coupl