Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson is in awe of India’s flamboyant and “fearless” opener Abhishek Sharma, classifying his batting as a ‘treat to watch.’ The number one T20I batter in the world, Abhishek, has been India’s driving force with his vast array of shots and heavily loaded arsenal. He scoops, flicks, pulls, drives, sweeps, and often muscles the ball into the stands with his brute force.
Abhishek announced himself to the world in IPL 2024, hammering a staggering 484 runs while striking at 204.21 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Watson, impressed by the 25-year-old’s ability to explode and switch through gears, feels it has been “special” to witness Abhishek’s journey and evolution.
“He’s incredibly good, isn’t he? It’s been special to see his evolution over the last two or three years, from when he first came in, got opportunities for Sunrisers Hyderabad. And then seeing him just continue to explode like he has. He’s got all the different gears, he’s got all the different shots against all different bowlers in all different conditions as well,” Watson told reporters.
After a mouthwatering season in the cash-rich league, Abhishek earned his debut in Zimbabwe last year and mustered up 125 runs from five matches while striking impressively at 174.65. He was left out of the Sri Lanka tour and flopped on his return against Bangladesh at home, mustering up 35 runs from three matches, but the management continued to stick with him.
He found his rich vein for form in the five-match T20I series against England earlier this year and topped the scoring chart with a tally of 279 at 55.80 with a humongous strike rate of 219.69. He did the bulk of the scoring during India’s unbeaten run to the Asia Cup title and emerged as the highest run-getter with 314 runs at an average of 44.86.
“So he is an absolute treat to be able to watch. Someone who’s so fearless, but then he’s got the skill to be able to go with it, to adapt to whatever’s required as well,” Watson added. Abhishek has carried his purple patch in Australia, engineering a rollicking 37-ball 68 when the rest of his compatriots crumbled against Australia’s lethal pace in Melbourne.
Watson was questioned about the plan he would have formulated to negate Abhishek’s threat. The 44-year-old jokingly replied, “Try and get him out. Otherwise, you’re in deep trouble.”
