Overview:
Abhishek has been the most consistent Indian batter in the last year, but he hasn't been able to set the stage on fire in the global tournament.
Abhishek Sharma returned to the Playing XI after missing the previous game against Namibia, but the southpaw failed to open his account, registering his second consecutive duck in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Abhishek was sent to the dressing room without troubling the scorers in the campaign opener against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium in February, and he recorded the same scoreline against the Salman Ali Agha-led team on February 15.
The young batter faced four deliveries in the first over of the innings, bowled by Agha, and was caught by Shaheen Shah Afridi while trying to go for a big hit.
Abhishek has been the most consistent Indian batter in the last year, but he hasn’t been able to set the stage on fire in the global tournament.
JUST NOW
The defending champions brought in Abhishek and Kuldeep Yadav in place of Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh.
Meanwhile, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl against India in order to take advantage of the slowness of the pitch. On the other hand, India captain Suryakumar Yadav wanted to bat first, considering the results of the games against the USA and Namibia.
Playing XIs
Pakistan XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (capt), Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed
India XI: Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah