Abhishek Sharma - super star - India beats Zimbabwe by 100 runs !!

 

Social media is ripe with ‘negativists’ !  .. .. India lost to Zimbabwe yesterday and social media was ripe with criticism that – 1) selection is worst (many of them said the same when team of ICC T20 WC was selected when they felt that players like Hardik, Rohit, Virat should have been dropped and some top performers of IPL should have been on the plane !)  2) this is a B team and youngsters can never replace the likes of Rohit, Virat, Jadeja (the same group was braying for the blood of those 3 is altogether different) 3) it is a great disgrace that Team has lost to lowly ranked Zimbabwe 4) IPL is bad 5) the top performers of IPL are unlikely to perform elsewhere especially in International Cricket 6)

 

Me belongs to a generation that saw India lose so many matches – in late 1970s, India would hardly win a Test abroad and in 1980s, despite the great success of 1983 Prudential World Cup and World Championship 1985, Team India would lose so many matches that we were feeling desolate but losses were but common !!!! 

Now when a young Team India embarked on journey to Zimbabwe, some instead of appreciating the chances youngsters  were getting, started vocally criticizing ! 

Zimbabwe  is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Mozambique. It’s capital is Harare.  Understand that Zimbabwe has 16 official languages with English, Shona and Ndebele being most common.  Many will remember Zimbabwe beating famed Aussies in 1983 WC and pinning India down at 17 for 5 before cavalier Kapil Dev played innings of life. Even die-hard fans may not remember Charles Coventry who for sometime held the World record for most runs in ODI along with Saeed Anwar.  

Yesterday at Harare, there were 3 debutants – all well known to Indian Cricket followers – Abhishek Sharma (who with Travis Head was hitting bowlers over the ropes with remarkable consistency in IPL 2024); Dhruv Jurel the wicket-keeper and the man who scored many runs in IPL - Riyan Parag 

Yesterday was not their day !  -  Captain Gill and India were stunned. Raza roared. The Harare Sports Club roared with him. They knew that their captain was onto something, and that something was Zimbabwe beating India for the first time across formats in over eight years.  Z scored 115/9 and won the match by 13 runs – there was strong criticism on Washington Sundar in refusing singles eternally and even when the mathematical probabilities were over !! 

Today, match 2 was on a different plane.  Team scored 234/2 and won by 100 runs !  Abshiek Sharma at latter point of his innings  clattered  72 runs in his last 23 balls at the crease, hitting five fours and seven sixes in that time.  In playing that gem of an innings, Abhishek Sharma became the first Indian to complete his century in men's international cricket by hitting three consecutive sixes.   He needed just 46 balls and became the   the joint-third-fastest for India in men's T20Is. Rohit Sharma's 35-ball century in 2017 and Suryakumar Yadav's 45-ball ton in 2023, both against Sri Lanka, are the two fastest tons for India, while KL Rahul also had a 46-ball hundred against West Indies in 2016.  He joins Evin Lewis, who like Abhishek, has a duck and a century as his first two T20I innings, while Richard Levi's maiden ton also came in his second innings.

 

If Zimbabwe had any hope going into their chase, it lay in the composition of India's attack. Having picked the extra batter, they were playing only four frontline bowlers, which left four overs to be completed by part-timers Abhishek and Riyan Parag. Abhishek isn't a part-timer in domestic cricket, and has plenty of variations to go with his stock left-arm orthodox, but he discovered how difficult bowling in the powerplay in an international game can be, conceding 19 in the second over with Bennett in an aggressive mood. But Indian bowlers - Mukesh, Avesh and Bishnoi wrapped  it up making it a huge win ! 

So those critics who wrote so hard against Team India – what will they write today ! 

Back in May 2018 - IPL – 16th over against RCB – Mohammed Siraj finally got Shreyas Iyer – in walked a young Abhishek Sharma and instantly became a hero hitting 46 off mere 19 with 4 sixers !  Abhishek first came into the limelight with a century on Under-19 debut for Punjab in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. Acquired by Daredevils for INR 55 lakh ($85,000) at the IPL auction, he is among three players in their squad from India's U-19 World Cup-winning side, apart from Prithvi Shaw and opener Manjot Kalra.

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
7.7.2024