Follow UsFresh off a blazing Asia Cup 2025 campaign, Abhishek Sharma got out for a golden duck in the second one-dayer against Australia A in Kanpur on October 3 (Friday).
The explosive left-hander was the standout batter of the Asia Cup, finishing as the tournament's highest run-scorer with 314 runs in seven innings. He averaged 44.85 and struck at a jaw-dropping 200, also earning the Player of the Series award.
He missed the first India A vs Australia A game, where the hosts piled up 413/6 and crushed the visitors by 171 runs. Abhishek came into the XI for Priyansh Arya, who had smashed a 101 off just 84 balls in that match.
Now a regular in India’s T20I squad, Abhishek would have aimed to extend his hot streak into the 50-over format and push his case for an ODI call-up. Instead, right-arm seamer Jack Edwards got him in the first ball of the second over. His dismissal started a collapse, with Prabhsimran Singh (1) and captain Shreyas Iyer (8) also falling early as India A slumped to 17/3 inside six overs.
Abhishek has played 62 List A matches so far, scoring 2014 runs at an average of 33.01, including four centuries and eight fifties. But the road to India’s ODI XI is crowded. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill remain the first-choice openers, while Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, and Ruturaj Gaikwad are also in the mix.
If Abhishek wants to be in contention for the 2027 ODI World Cup, he will need more than T20 fireworks - he’ll have to pile up runs in this format consistently, and soon.