It seems the blistering 84-run knock by Abhishek Sharma has mesmerised the entire cricket fraternity. Former India international Irfan Pathan makes a huge applause for the emerging Indian opener. Pathan suggested the board include Sharma in the ODI squad along with the T20I setup.
On the afternoon of January 22, the former India all-rounder took to his official ‘X’ account to share a post to commemorate the stunning batting performances of Abhishek Sharma. Pathan suggested BCCI consider the opener for the ICC ODI World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in 2027.
Abhishek Sharma tore apart the New Zealand bowling line-up single-handedly
New Zealand bowlers were looking on song with the new ball in Nagpur during the India vs New Zealand 1st T20I match. Prolific batters like Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan could not prolong their time in the middle, as the Kiwi bowlers struck early in the first innings.
When the circumstance was looking a little bit uncomfortable for the hosts, Sharma stood tall with all his fire powers. Accompanied by a watchful skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, the southpaw was scoring runs at a rapid pace.
The opener took only 35 runs to score 84 runs with eight sixes and five boundaries at a strike rate of 240.00. With the help of Sharma’s impactful innings, Team India got 238 runs on the board and eventually won the match by 48 runs.
Standout batting stats of Abhishek Sharma
Since the Asia Cup 2025, the Punjab-born has been scoring runs for the Men in Blue in a consistent manner. According to ESPNCricinfo, Sharma took only 2898 balls to complete 5000 runs in T20 cricket – the quickest to the milestone, ahead of Andre Russell.
As of now, Abhishek Sharma has played 34 T20Is for India to score a total of 1199 runs at a strike rate of 190.92. He slammed seven 50s and a couple of 100s to claim these breathtaking stats.
Irfan Pathan wants to see Sharma in the ODI team
Amid the ongoing form of the batter, Irfan Pathan has now started to imagine what Sharma can do in the 50-overs format. He compared him with other star batters like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal to project Sharma’s potential as an opener in a One Day International match. Pathan believes that Sharma’s attacking batting in the powerplay could help the team to gather some extra runs at a quick pace in this format too.
Abhishek Sharma should be in the considerations for the 50-over World Cup. Guys like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad are ahead of him at the moment. But imagine him maximizing the powerplay in a similar fashion to T20s.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 22, 2026
“Abhishek Sharma should be in the considerations for the 50-over World Cup. Guys like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad are ahead of him at the moment. But imagine him maximising the powerplay in a similar fashion to T20s,” Pathan wrote on his ‘X’ post.
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