&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Abhishek Sharma falls early again in SMAT, raising concerns over form")
Abhishek Sharma walked into the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as the world’s No. 1 T20I batter and the captain of Punjab. The expectation was clear: he had to lead from the front. But so far, the tournament has not gone the way he or his team would have hoped. On Friday (Nov 28) in Hyderabad, those struggles continued, and Punjab once again felt the impact.
Punjab were chasing a big target of 208 against Haryana at the Gymkhana Ground. They needed Abhishek to give them a strong start, but he fell early for just six runs from five balls. Anshul Kamboj bowled him in the third over, pushing Punjab into trouble right at the beginning of the chase.
Before getting out, Abhishek managed one boundary and put on a 27-run opening stand with Prabhsimran Singh. But their start did not last long. Prabhsimran, who made waves in the IPL 2025 season with Punjab Kings, also fell quickly. He made 20 from 10 balls, hitting one four and two sixes, but could not turn it into a big knock.
For Abhishek, this was his second straight failure in the SMAT 2025. He had scored just four runs in Punjab’s first match against Himachal Pradesh. Even before this tournament, his form was dipping. In the three unofficial ODIs between India A and South Africa A, he scored 31, 32, and 11. Steady numbers, but no impactful knocks.
This phase has hurt his chances of breaking into India’s ODI squad. There was a window after Shubman Gill’s injury, but Maharashtra’s Ruturaj Gaikwad stepped up instead. Gaikwad scored a century and a half-century in the India A series and earned the ODI call-up as Gill’s replacement.
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While Abhishek struggled, the match still had strong batting on display. Haryana’s young all-rounder Nishant Sindhu stood out with a sharp 61 off 32 balls. He smashed eight fours and three sixes and stitched important partnerships with Ankit Kumar and Yashvardhan Dalal, keeping Haryana in control from the start.
Punjab now need their captain to find rhythm quickly. With a big T20I series against South Africa coming up next month, Abhishek’s form will be watched closely.
