Former Zimbabwe cricketer Tino Mawoyo heaped praise on India’s talented batter Abhishek Sharma for his solid comeback in the second T20I against Zimbabwe after registering a blob on his debut. Sharma was dismissed for a four-ball duck but smashed a 47-ball 100 in his second game.
The left-hander took the attack to the Zimbabwean bowlers from the get-go and smashed seven fours and eight sixes in his blistering knock. The pugnacious southpaw scored his runs at a whirlwind strike rate of 212.77 and helped India post an above-par score of 234 runs on the board. In response, Zimbabwe was skittled out for 134 and India registered a thumping 100-run win.
After Yashasvi Jaiswal joined the team, Sharma batted at one down for the visitors. Abhishek Sharma scored 124 runs in four innings at an average of 31 and an impressive strike rate of 174.65 in the T20I series against Zimbabwe.
“I think it was even more exciting because of the way the first innings went. He really looked all out of sorts. He looked uncomfortable. He looked out of place but the way he came out in the second T20I and played the game that he knows, it takes a lot of courage to be able to do that when you have failed,” Tino Mawoyo said while talking to Sony Sports.
Mawoyo expects the Indian selectors to give a long run to Abhishek Sharma with the national team.
“I thought that was outstanding for him. A whirlwind start to his T20I career and you can see that he is one guy we can look forward to seeing playing many, many innings in the blue of India,” Mawoyo added.
On the other hand, Tamil Nadu batter Abhinav Mukund feels batters like Abhishek Sharma will win India games single-handedly.
“I don’t want him to change anything. It’s just exciting to see a young player come and smash sixes and fours and get to a 47-ball 100. These are the kind of players that are going to win you games single-handedly. They might end up frustrating you sometimes with a shot that may not be on in that particular situation,” he replied.
The former Indian opener believes Sharma should be backed to play his aggressive game and should not be criticized if he fails to deliver.
“However, this is the enthusiasm of youth and you need to just encourage that. When he fails, I just hope nobody is too harsh on him because he is going to give us glorious innings like what we saw here and there is enough proof that he is going to give a lot more to Indian cricket,” Mukund added.
India will next take on Sri Lanka in three T20Is and as many ODIs.
