India’s former spinner, Harbhajan Singh, has predicted that young opening batter Abhishek Sharma could crack the Test code in the future as he displayed his incredible and aggressive batting performance during the five-match T20I series against England at home. The 24-year-old smashed his second century of the shortest format in just 17 encounters.
Abhishek celebrated his century in just 37 deliveries, which is now the second fastest by an Indian batter in the format after Rohit Sharma. His fantastic knock was decorated with 13 over boundaries and seven boundaries, which propelled them to a massive total of 247/9 in 20 allotted overs. India eventually won the game by 150 runs and sealed the series by a 4-1 margin.
Harbhajan Singh, during a video on his YouTube channel, reckoned that the southpaw carries the skills to take the game away from the opposition, just how Travis Head has been doing for Australia or Virender Sehwag used to do for India.
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“On his day, he just takes the game away. Travis Head does it, Virender Sehwag used to do it, Viv Richards used to do it. These kinds of players are the ones who take the game forward.” India’s former spinner expressed.
Harbhajan Singh compares Abhishek Sharma with India’s this former opener
Head has nailed 3678 Test runs in 91 innings at an average of 43.27 and a strike rate of 67.77, shouldering on nine centuries and 18 half-centuries at the best score of 175. Even Sehwag also managed 8586 runs in 180 innings at an average of 49.34 and a strike rate of 82, thanks to 23 centuries and 32 half-centuries at the best score of 319.
“Today or tomorrow, his chance will come in Test cricket. You always need a player of the Sehwag mold in Test cricket who comes, smashes, and takes the game away. That can be Abhishek Sharma.” He highlighted, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
The 24-year-old has smashed 1071 runs in first-class cricket in 37 innings for Punjab at an average of 30.60 and a strike rate of 70.46, shouldering on five half-centuries and one century at the best score of 100. In 60 List-A innings, he drilled 2014 runs at an average of 35.33 and a strike rate of 99.21, with the help of four centuries and eight fifties at the best score of 170.
“He can play, banda todta hai usme bhi (he smashes in that format as well). He is captain of Punjab (in the Ranji Trophy).” Harbhajan Singh addressed.
India’s World Cup winner wished that the two left-handers, including Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, could form their top three in white-ball cricket in the next few months.
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Gill has already played for the national side across three formats. The right-handed batter played 47 innings in the 50-over format for his 2328 runs at an average of 58.20 and a strike rate of 101.74, shouldering on six centuries and 13 half-centuries. In 59 Test innings, he has clubbed 1893 runs at an average of 35.05, while in the shortest format, he cracked 578 runs in 21 innings at a strike rate of 140, thanks to one century and three half-centuries.
“I am looking forward to that period when they will be India’s top 3 [Gill, Jaiswal and Abhishek]. What a batting lineup that will be, and those days are not too far away. Maybe in about six months, we will see these three playing permanently for India in white-ball cricket.” Harbhajan addressed.
India’s next T20I series will be in August in Bangladesh.