Michael Clarke says Abhishek Sharma is ready to play all three formats for India

Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke has backed Abhishek Sharma to play all three formats for India. Sharma is currently part of the T20I team and he is yet to make his debut in Test and ODI cricket. 

Sharma has been in splendid form in T20Is and he is currently the number one T20I batter in the shortest format. The left-hander scored 314 runs in the Asia Cup at a blistering strike rate of 200 and was awarded Player of the Tournament. The southpaw will play in Australia for the first time and he will look to provide a solid start to the team along with vice-captain Shubman Gill.

Clarke backed Abhishek Sharma to be the leading run-getter of the series against Australia.

Michael Clarke said on Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, “I think he’s ( Abhishek) ready to play all three formats for India. It’s hard, you can only have 11 players and six batters in. But I reckon he is an absolute superstar in this format. He opens the batting, a left-hander and has got all the shots.”

Abhishek has scored 849 runs in 24 T20I matches at an average of 36.91 and a whirlwind strike rate of 196.08 and thus he has been ticking the right boxes. The left-hander has shown a lot of promise in T20Is and he would look to continue his rich form at the top level.

On the other hand, Clarke predicted that Australia would win the five-match T20I series against India by 3-1, with one match ending in a no-result due to bad weather.

The first T20I between India and Australia will be played at Canberra on Wednesday.