Former India batter Rohan Gavaskar hailed opener Abhishek Sharma for his ability to create fear in the opposition, similar to West Indian legend Vivian Richards, amid the T20 World Cup clash against Namibia in Delhi on February 12. The 25-year-old is missing the ongoing game due to illness, which he sustained in India’s tournament opener against the USA.
While Abhishek failed to open his account in his maiden ICC game, his T20I performances since his debut in 2024 have been nothing short of phenomenal. Ranked No.1 in the world in T20I batting, the southpaw has scored 1,297 runs at an average of over 36 and a strike rate of 194.45 in 39 T20Is.
Talking about Abhishek Sharma after the news about his absence for the Namibia encounter came out, Gavaskar said on Cricbuzz (11:05):
“Once you’ve got the weight of performances in the bank, even if you get out for a few first-ball ducks, you are still in the 11. So the fear of not being in the side is not there, which allows you to play without pressure. He puts the fear of God into the opposition. It’s what Viv Richards used to do in the 80s.”
He continued:
If the opposition has got 280 in a T20 and India are chasing that, they won’t be thinking we’ve got this game in the bag. Because they know in the first six overs, if Abhishek bats through that period, India could well be in that chase.
Abhishek holds the distinction of being the second fastest to a half-century (14 balls) and century (37 balls) in T20Is among Indian batters.
“If he was playing in the 1960s, he would have been a quality Test player” – Rohan Gavaskar
Rohan Gavaskar went a step further and said that Abhishek Sharma’s natural ability would have ensured he would have dominated any format across eras. The young left-hander has only played in T20Is for India in his two-year international career.
“It’s the naturally born ability. Like a Virat would have been great in any era. That’s when you are called an all-time great. Likewise, Abhishek Sharma, with the kind of ability he has, if he was playing in the 1960s, he would have been a quality Test player. You are a product of the environment you grow up in. He has enhanced that ability in T20s for this era. In another era, he would have excelled in the other formats,” said Gavaskar (via the aforementioned source).
Abhishek’s numbers are surprisingly modest in the longer domestic formats, averaging 33.78 and 30.60 in List-A and first-class cricket, respectively.
Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran